The main goal of this research project was to explore the question “What is the crisis responder’s experience with youth suicide?” The primary researcher was a crisis responder who, over the course of seven years, worked in the field of crisis intervention and encountered situations involving youth suicidality. Research has shown that exposure to youth suicide can produce dramatic effects upon the perceptions and meaning of work for crisis responders. A self-case study approach based upon heuristic concepts and processes was utilized for the present study because a first-person account enabled the uncovering of phases of effects of exposure to suicidality, including immersion, incubation, and illumination. These phases were applied to clarify the nature of the lived experience of a crisis responder working in Manitoba, Canada on a mobile crisis team. Insight into the phenomenon was gained by synthesizing the personal experiences of being a crisis responder, and contextualizing it within the theoretical and empirical literature on exposure to suicidality. Based on current findings, directions for future research and implications for the professional development of crisis responder practitioners experiencing youth suicide were provided. The ramifications of long term service within this area were also explored.

The main goal of this research project was to explore the question “What is the crisis responder’s experience with youth suicide?” The primary researcher was a crisis responder who, over the course of seven years, worked in the field of crisis intervention and encountered situations involving youth suicidality. Research has shown that exposure to youth suicide can produce dramatic effects upon the perceptions and meaning of work for crisis responders. A self-case study approach based upon heuristic concepts and processes was utilized for the present study because a first-person account enabled the uncovering of phases of effects of exposure to suicidality, including immersion, incubation, and illumination. These phases were applied to clarify the nature of the lived experience of a crisis responder working in Manitoba, Canada on a mobile crisis team. Insight into the phenomenon was gained by synthesizing the personal experiences of being a crisis responder, and contextualizing it within the theoretical and empirical literature on exposure to suicidality. Based on current findings, directions for future research and implications for the professional development of crisis responder practitioners experiencing youth suicide were provided. The ramifications of long term service within this area were also explored.

Technology changes often force teachers, trainers, instructional designers, and administrators to make instructional design and delivery decisions that ideally should be based upon pedagogy research. In many circumstances, however, a foundational pedagogy question is only recognized when a technology decision reveals it. Such is the case when deciding what mode (video or audio) to use for learner interaction in a synchronous online learning event. While some research has focused on the learning and the satisfaction of learners when they were interacting, almost no research has addressed the learning value of observing the interactions of other learners. The purpose of this research study was to investigate whether the mode in which direct learner interactions were made affected non-interacting learners' recall of content in a synchronous virtual learning environment. The participants in this study viewed one of three versions of a webinar on Multimedia Games for Learning: a) all learners interacted in video mode; b) all learners interacted in audio mode; or all learners interacted in both video and audio in a mixed mode. No statistically significant difference was found between the video, audio, and mixed treatment conditions in terms of the recall of content from the questions or comments made by directly interacting learners. However, a statically significant difference was found in non-interacting learners' recall of the contributions of direct interactors based on the mode of interaction within the mixed-mode group. Study participants recalled more of the contributions made in the audio mode of interaction than in the video mode when the modes were mixed. These findings suggest that designers of synchronous online learning may choose either video or audio mode without affecting those learners who are not directly interacting but should take care in mixing interaction modes within a single synchronous online learning event. The contributions of the study reach beyond the findings. The study supports vicarious interaction as a process worthy of research and e-Learning design consideration. It provides a model for experimental manipulation of "simulated" synchronous sessions, and it introduces recall of others' verbal contributions as an approach to measurement of the attention granted vicarious interactions by those not interacting directly with others.

The purpose of this study is to compare first-hand and vicarious experiences as means of developing those factors or traits of reading readiness that may be improved through training. More specifically, it is an attempt to measure the amount of readiness gained through the two types of experiences by two groups of first-grade children in the San Angelo Public Schools.

Research on vicarious reinforcement has answered many questions but whether vicarious reinforcement increases the likelihood that an observer will imitate a model, a social learning theory would predict, or sets the occasion for the observer to perform an alternate response, as a discriminative stimulus interpretation of vicarious reinforcement suggests, seems to depend on (1) the setting, (2) procedure, and (3) reinforcers used. In an effort to better understand the function of vicarious reinforcement, while controlling for subjects; histories and using tangible reinforcers, 47 preschool children participated in two experiments that (1) provided an experimental history of responding on several levers, (2) provided differential reinforcement on the levers during training, and (3) assessed the effects of observing a model respond on a lever and receive tokens. In Experiment I, 18 subjects who were trained to respond on three levers responded during an extinction period and then observed either an adult model respond on a fourth, novel lever or observed a control procedure. Only subjects who observed the model receive tokens responded on the same lever as the model during an additional extinction period. The extinction period was procedurally defined and relatively short in duration. The results of Experiment I supported social learning theory; however, imitation effects were short lived. Another experiment was conducted to evaluate more fully the extinction of the modeled behavior found in Experiment I. In Experiment II, 29 subjects who were trained to respond on three levers responded during an extinction period and then observed an adult model in one of four modeling conditions. The subjects in this experiment were exposed to the model lever during training and had an extensive history of never being reinforced on the modeled lever. Only some of the subjects who observed the model receive tokens responded on the model lever and only for a short period of time. The results of this experiment illustrated the importance of the reinforcement history of the observer and supported previous studied which found an extinction effect for vicarious reinforcement. Taken together, these experiments illustrate the limits of social learning theory because imitation effects were short lived and suggest certain procedures that will enhance the use of vicarious reinforcement in applied setting.

Law enforcement officers (LEOs) often bear witness to trauma in others, leaving them vulnerable to vicarious traumatization. Vicarious resilience can counterbalance the negative effects of trauma work and help individuals avoid vicarious traumatization. This study investigated the phenomenon of vicarious resilience in 10 LEOs. The research questions focused on how the LEOs experienced witnessing victims demonstrate resilience during adversity and how they themselves were impacted by that experience. A phenomenological methodology and semi-structured interviews were used to explore the participants' experiences. Constructivist self-development theory and vicarious resilience were the conceptual frameworks used to explain how LEOs experience vicarious trauma and vicarious resilience. Phenomenological analysis was used to organize the data and assist in the development of themes regarding the nature of the participants' lived experiences. Analysis of the LEOs interview transcriptions generated 19 themes; including LEOs feel encouraged from witnessing victims' determination to live in the face of death, LEOs are motivated to reevaluate their own adversities, LEOs feel inspired from witnessing and reflecting on victims' ability to survive trauma, and LEOs carry hope that future victims will be resilient. Overall, the findings indicated that LEOs experience positive experiences and personal growth from their work with resilient victims. Results of this study may be used in law enforcement training to stimulate positive social change that might improve the well-being of LEOs by providing awareness on how vicarious resilience can be used as a proactive measure in working with trauma victims.

Vicarious traumatization (VT) describes the gradual, transformative shifts in internal experience that occur as a result of cumulative exposure to clients’ trauma material. VT is thought to develop in the therapist due to empathic engagement with clients, resulting in profound disruptions in frame of reference. Because VT is conceptualized as a condition that develops due to frequent exposure to clients’ traumatic material, a rapidly emerging body of theoretical literature suggests that clinicians can safeguard against VT by maintaining a more balanced workload (i.e., a caseload of clients with a variety of presenting problems) and limiting the number of trauma cases. However, the quantitative research base on VT is limited and has been plagued by several methodological shortcomings, most notably the lack of comparison groups of non-trauma clinicians. As such, a primary aim of the present study was to characterize the prevalence and severity of VT among one group of clinicians treating predominantly traumatized populations, and one group providing treatment for a wider variety of presenting issues. Further, a secondary aim of this project was to identify both therapist-level and occupational-level contributors to VT. In our cross-sectional, online survey study of 114 generalist mental health providers (Mage = 33.36, 75.4% female, 88.6% Caucasian) and 107 trauma clinicians (Mage = 42.66, 81.3% female, 86.9% Caucasian) recruited from various professional organizations, levels of VT were low and not significantly different between the two provider groups. Risk factors for VT included fewer years of experience, having a greater personal history of trauma, and a personal distress empathy style. Protective factors included a perspective-taking empathy style, problem-focused and emotion-focused coping styles, and high-quality supervision. When the VT construct was examined alongside similar (but conceptually different) occupational stress constructs of secondary traumatic stress and burnout, there was a high degree of overlap, indicating that VT may not be a distinct phenomenon or unique to working with trauma clients. Results suggest that claims about the deleterious effects of trauma therapy are likely overstated, thereby refuting the original conceptualization of VT. Future research directions and implications for prevention and intervention are discussed.

Recent concerns have arisen about the effects on counselors of working with trauma survivors. Vicarious traumatization may be a normal developmental process of adapting to client trauma material and may ultimately result in vicarious posttraumatic growth, or positive changes arising from vicarious trauma. Most studies have focused on individual variables or clinician coping strategies that predict vicarious traumatization. Taking a feminist approach to vicarious traumatization, this study examined the role of workplace context variables, such as sense of belonging in the workplace and support for vicarious trauma at work, on counselor vicarious traumatization and vicarious posttraumatic growth. Stratified random sampling was used to recruit counselors from domestic violence and rape crisis centers, and recruitment messages were sent to all psychology internship and postdoctoral sites in the United States which were accredited by the American Psychological Association. Surveys were completed by 234 counselors. Counselors reported sub-clinical levels of vicarious trauma symptoms (intrusions, avoidance, and hyperarousal resulting from work with trauma survivors). Results of hierarchical regression analyses indicated that amount and intensity of exposure to client trauma material positively predicted vicarious trauma symptoms, and sense of belonging in the workplace negatively predicted vicarious trauma symptoms. Intensity of exposure, work setting, and support for vicarious trauma at work predicted vicarious posttraumatic growth, so that counselors exposed to more graphic details of client trauma, those working in domestic violence or rape crisis centers, and counselors with more support for vicarious trauma at work reported more vicarious posttraumatic growth. The relation between amount of exposure and vicarious posttraumatic growth was moderated by intensity of exposure and by sense of belonging in the workplace. Counselors with low sense of belonging at work reported less vicarious posttraumatic growth when amount of exposure was high, whereas counselors with high sense of belonging reported more vicarious posttraumatic growth with high exposure. Results suggest that counselors’ reactions to client trauma material are normal rather than pathological, are largely due to exposure to client trauma, and can be affected by workplace context factors, especially sense of belonging in the workplace and support for vicarious trauma at work.

This thesis addresses four research questions: 1. Are counsellors changed by their clients? 2. If so, how do they make meaning of any change? 3. How does the academic literature explain these changes? 4. How do counsellors ensure change is positive?Previous research has largely focused on the negative effects of clients' stories on counsellors. The potentially positive impact is relatively unexplored - despite the fact that research suggests that it is possible for people who directly experience a wide range of traumatic experiences to grow as a result (Tedeschi & Calhoun, 1996). Moreover, a handful of research studies has suggested that it is possible to experience these changes vicariously (Manning-Jones, deTerte & Stephens, 2015). This thesis describes a qualitative research study carried out with eight counsellors who worked either in a hospice (counselling clients experiencing bereavement or illness) or in private practice (counselling clients who had experienced sexual violence). Narrative inquiry and autoethnography were used to collect and analyse counsellors' stories of being changed by their clients and re-presented as poetic representation, visual art and polyvocal texts. The results show that counsellors do indeed share stories of being changed: sometimes for the worse but often for the better. These changes are in the areas of self-perception, interpersonal relationships and life philosophy and are largely consistent with conceptualisations of vicarious posttraumatic growth. However, what drives change is different. In hospice counsellors, mortality awareness is the driver for change; whereas human cruelty and brutality is the driver in counsellors who work with clients who have experienced sexual violence. Counsellors draw on a number of alternative discourses to make meaning of their experience and this reflects different counselling modalities. The counsellors' stories of change may represent personal growth or reflect western metanarratives linked to a quest for identity. These findings are discussed in relation to the training and supervision of practitioners.

For some people, exposure to trauma results in the development of psychological maladjustment in the form of posttraumatic stress disorder. Veterans returning from combat zones tend to meet criteria for PTSD at rates significantly higher than what is observed in the general population. Mental health professionals, particularly those working with U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, play an important role in the recovery of these Veterans. Research suggests that facilitating trauma therapy and/or being exposed second-hand to traumatic material can have negative consequences for the therapist. The current study focuses on the impact of trauma therapy on therapists who work with combat veterans through the VA. The study includes seven psychologists in the state of Iowa employed by VA. Findings support previous research by highlighting the impact therapy has on the clinician providing it. The impact of facilitating trauma therapy or working with traumatized populations is not wholly positive or negative, but often both. The current study suggests that what clinicians do in response to hearing trauma narratives that is of key importance.