Managing Vicarious Trauma: Comparisons between Survivor Professionals and Non-Survivor Professionals in a Domestic Abuse Context

我建议研究在暴力侵害妇女、家庭暴力和性暴力（VAWDASV）领域，幸存者和非幸存者专业人员在应对和处理替代性创伤方面的差异，以及幸存者使用的策略和战术是否存在差异。本文将侧重于工人，而不是管理和组织支持，如临床监督。这是因为，如果员工在同一个组织，理论上他们应该得到同样的支持；因此，幸存者专业人员和未受虐待人员之间的不同反应可能是影响他们替代创伤水平差异的原因。正如我在求职信中所述，替代性创伤在VAWDASV领域很普遍，因为专业人士经常暴露在令人沮丧、不安和潜在威胁生命的事件中。本论文可以解释和促进有效的弹性策略，这可以大大减少在VAWDASV领域中围绕替代创伤的实际问题，同时为学术界提供新的见解。研究问题：幸存者专业人员如何管理在VAWDASV部门工作所获得的间接创伤？有没有什么战术是所有专业生存者都会使用的？这与非幸存者专业人员处理创伤的方式不同吗？这篇论文将填补一个明显的学术空白，即缺乏对支持犯罪受害者的工作人员的间接创伤经验的理解，特别是幸存者和非幸存者专业人员之间的差异。加深这种理解，并提出相关建议，以建立复原力，改善专业经验和做法，这可能与那些从事暴力侵害妇女行为受害者工作的人直接相关。例如，这项研究可以为威尔士议会政府的政策和行动做出贡献，特别是与引入rhiannon Maniatt BScEcon（荣誉）理学硕士（ESRC资助博士研究提案）相关的战略2015年VAWDASV（威尔士）法案。通过确保工作人员训练有素，能够为虐待幸存者提供“高质量”的支持，提高VAWDASV专业人员的复原力符合《2015年VAWDASV（威尔士）法》中规定的国家目标（《VAWDASV（威尔士）法》目标5和6）。因此，本论文的研究结果可能有助于威尔士政府为服务提出的行动。除了学术和政策方面的影响外，这项研究还将产生实际贡献。这项研究的发现可以显示VAWDASV工作人员更有效的方法来处理他们的间接创伤，将幸存者专业人员使用的恢复策略应用于所有VAWDASV工作人员的日常实践。通过提高他们对替代创伤的适应能力，由于心理健康状况不佳而损失的工作时间将会减少，因此，由于替代创伤而辞职的人数也会减少。实际贡献也将比vawdasv部门进一步扩大，就好像幸存者专业人员的集体反应可以减少严重的创伤一样，这些也可以应用于其他高影响力的职业，包括警察、社会服务支持工作者，甚至护理人员和急救人员。

I propose to study how coping strategies and dealings with vicarious trauma in the violenceagainst women, domestic abuse and sexual violence (VAWDASV) field vary between survivorand non-survivor professionals, and whether there are differences in the strategies andtactics used by survivors. This thesis would focus on the workers rather than managerial andorganisational support, such as clinical supervision. This is because if workers are in the sameorganisation, they should in theory receive the same support; therefore, varied responsesbetween survivor professionals and non-abused staff may be what affects differencesbetween their vicarious trauma levels. As stated in my cover letter, vicarious trauma isprevalent in the VAWDASV field, as professionals are constantly exposed to upsetting,disturbing and potentially life-threatening events on a regular basis. This thesis could explainand promote effective resilience tactics which could drastically reduce the practical problemssurrounding vicarious trauma in the VAWDASV field, whilst proving new insights foracademics.Research Questions: How do survivor professionals manage the vicarious trauma which isgained from working in the VAWDASV sector? Are there tactics which are used by all survivorprofessionals? Does this differ to how non-survivor professionals manage trauma?This thesis would fill a noticeable academic gap where there is a lack of understanding ofexperiences of vicarious trauma for staff who are supporting the victims of crime, specificallythe differences between survivor and non-survivor professionals.Developing this understanding and linked recommendations to build resilience and improveprofessional experiences and practice could be of direct relevance to those working with andfor victims of violence against women. For example, this research could contribute to WelshAssembly government policy and actions, particularly strategies linked to the introduction ofRhiannon Maniatt BScEcon (Hons) MSc - Research Proposal for ESRC Funding PhDthe VAWDASV (Wales) Act 2015. Increasing the resilience in VAWDASV professionals fits withthe national objectives set out in the VAWDASV (Wales) Act 2015, through ensuring that staffare well trained and capable of providing 'high quality' support to survivors of abuse(Objectives 5 and 6 of the VAWDASV (Wales) Act). Therefore, the findings from this thesiscould contribute to actions which the Welsh Government could propose for services.As well as academic and policy ramifications, there are practical contributions which wouldstem from this research. Findings from this research could show more effective ways thatVAWDASV workers could deal with their vicarious trauma, applying resilience tactics whichare used by survivor professionals to all VAWDASV workers for their everyday practice. Byimproving their resilience to vicarious trauma, there would be fewer hours of work lost dueto poor mental health, and it would follow that there would be fewer resignations due tovicarious trauma. The practical contributions would also expand further than the VAWDASVsector, as if there are collective responses across survivor professionals which reducevicarious trauma, these could also be applied to other high impact careers, including policeofficers, social service support workers, and even paramedics and emergency firstresponders.