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

我建议研究幸存者和非幸存者在暴力侵害妇女、家庭暴力和性暴力(VAWDASV)领域的应对策略和处理替代创伤的方式有何不同，以及幸存者使用的战略和战术是否存在差异。这篇论文将关注员工，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中，理论上他们应该得到相同的支持；因此，幸存者专业人员和未受虐待的员工之间的反应不同，可能是影响他们替代创伤级别的差异的原因。正如我在求职信中所说，代替性创伤在VAWDASV领域很普遍，因为专业人士经常面临令人沮丧、令人不安和可能危及生命的事件。这篇论文可以解释和促进有效的复原力策略，可以极大地减少VAWDASV领域中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领域工作中获得的替代创伤？有没有所有求生专业人士都会使用的战术？这与非幸存者专业人员如何管理创伤有区别吗？这篇论文将填补一个明显的学术空白，即对支持犯罪受害者的工作人员的替代创伤经历缺乏了解，特别是幸存者和非幸存者专业人员之间的差异。发展这种理解和相关建议，以建立复原力和改善专业经验和实践，可能与那些与暴力侵害妇女行为受害者合作的人和为受害者工作的人直接相关。例如，这项研究可以有助于威尔士议会政府的政策和行动，特别是与引入Rhiannon Maniatt BScECON(Hons)理学硕士--ESRC资助博士的研究提案--2015年VAWDASV(威尔士)法案相关的战略。提高VAWDASV专业人员的复原力符合2015年VAWDASV(威尔士)法案规定的国家目标，方法是确保工作人员受到良好培训，并有能力向虐待幸存者提供“高质量”支持(VAWDASV(威尔士)法案目标5和6)。因此，这项研究的发现可以为威尔士政府提出的服务行动做出贡献。除了学术和政策上的影响，这项研究还将做出实际贡献。这项研究的结果可能表明，VAWDASV工人可以更有效地处理他们的替代创伤，将幸存者专业人员在日常练习中使用的弹性策略应用到所有VAWDASV工人身上。通过提高他们对替代创伤的适应能力，由于精神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将会减少。实际贡献也将比VAWDASV部门扩大得更多，就好像幸存者专业人员之间有集体反应来减少各种创伤一样，这些贡献也可以适用于其他影响较大的职业，包括警察、社会服务支助人员，甚至护理人员和紧急急救人员。

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.