As a result of working in high-risk situations, child protection workers are often confronted by such traumatic incidents as the physical and sexual abuse of children, serious neglect situations, and personal threats. The perception of how workers deal with their emotional challenges has not received a great deal of attention in the literature. To date, a phenomenological study focusing on the descriptive experiences of child protection workers struggling with secondary traumatic stress has not been published. This study attempts to rectify this, by examining from a phenomenological perspective how secondary traumatic stress (STS) experienced by child protection workers impacts their practice and personal lives. This study found that child protection workers engaged in direct practice will be exposed directly and indirectly to traumatic events through their work with children and families and the risks of experiencing symptoms of STS are almost a certainty for a child protection worker. Participants described the day-to-day pressures of managing a caseload and dealing with traumatic events or traumatized people. From their responses, three major categories emerged: Professional Issues relating to case practice and effectiveness; the Personal Impacts of child protection work on the way workers function, both on the job and in their private lives; and Behavioral or Physical Changes experienced by child protection workers. It is these categories that best illustrate the dramatic way secondary trauma affects child protection workers as a whole. / Graduate

The present research is a field investigation of trauma and its cognitive and emotional consequences. One hundred and nineteen sex trade workers were interviewed about sexually traumatic experiences. The primary focus of this research was an examination of the quantity and quality of memory for sexual trauma. Various predisposing, precipitating, and perpetuating factors were examined regarding their influence on memory and posttraumatic stress. One objective of this study was to test certain assumptions of the biopsychosocial model of eyewitness memory (Hervé, Cooper, & Yuille, 2007), which proposes that individuals differ along a continuum of arousal sensitivity and predicts the quantity and quality of recall. Up to three types of memory narratives were elicited from each participant: (a) one positive event (b) one well-remembered sexual assault, and (c) one sexual assault for which the participant had poor recollection. Each memory was assessed for peritraumatic and posttraumatic factors. The participants also filled out a number of individual differences measures. The results indicated that the participants had extensive histories of trauma, many of which began in their childhood. It was shown that well-remembered sexual assaults contained more narrative details than memories of positive events and less-well-remembered sexual assaults. Such variability of memory for sexual violence is in line with Hervé et al.'s model as well as other field studies of traumatic memory. This was the first study to demonstrate such variability within-subjects. Various moderating factors of memory were examined, for example, dissociation and different symptoms of posttraumatic stress. Some of the findings were at odds with traditional theories, laboratory findings, and certain assumptions held by many eyewitness memory experts regarding the relationship between stress and memory. A second objective of this dissertation was to examine predictors of post traumatic stress disorder. The findings largely confirmed the literature. Men and women did not differ in their levels of posttraumatic stress. Overall, the complexity of clinical symptoms in survivors of repeated sexual violence is highlighted. The results are discussed in terms of their implications for theory development, future research, the criminal justice system, and in terms of their relevance for treatment providers and assessors.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2007. / Full text release at OhioLINK's ETD Center delayed at author's request

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Oregon, 2007. / Typescript. Includes vita and abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 207-222). Also available for download via the World Wide Web; free to University of Oregon users.

Thesis (M.S.)--Northern Michigan University, 2007. / Bibliography: leaves 57-62.

Ulm, Univ., Diss., 2008.

Zugl.: Hamburg, University, Diss., 2007.

Zugl.: Köln, Univ., Diss., 2008

Thesis (M.S.)--West Virginia University, 2009. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains v, 72 p. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 43-48).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--West Virginia University, 2008. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains iv, 44 p. : ill. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 32-37).