Secondary traumatization in law guardians representing traumatized youth

摘要

The direct experience of trauma can induce symptoms of intrusion, avoidance, and hyperarousal characteristic of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Trauma may also disrupt adaptive beliefs about the self, others, and the world. Some empirical evidence suggests that professionals who work with traumatized individuals are susceptible to similar reactions due to their indirect exposure to clients' traumatic material. Although some studies have explored secondary traumatization in mental health professionals, there is limited reference to other at-risk professionals. The purpose of the present study was to investigate secondary traumatization in law guardians, attorneys who represent traumatized children in court proceedings.;A sample of New York State law guardians completed a survey to assess symptoms of secondary traumatization. Potential predictors included age, gender, experience as a law guardian, number of hours worked weekly as a law guardian, number of cases handled, and number of traumatic events in a law guardian's past. Outcome measures included the Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R), the Secondary Trauma Scale (STS), and the Trauma and Attachment Belief Scale (TABS).;On the IES-R, law guardians endorsed minimal symptoms of intrusion, avoidance, and hyperarousal. On the STS, secondary traumatization was not evident in law guardians as a group. However, 17.6% of participants reported symptoms in the clinically significant range. Participants with higher STS scores tended to be younger females who worked more hours per week and handled more cases. On the TABS, law guardians did not report significant disruptions to their beliefs overall. However, 16.8% of participants had scores above Average. Higher rates were found for most of the TABS subscales. Participants with higher TABS scores tended to be female and reported experiencing more traumatic events. Regression analyses indicated that the set of predictor variables significantly related to both STS and TABS scores. The only individual variable that consistently predicted symptoms was the number of traumatic events in a law guardian's past. This was considered with the finding that law guardians had significantly higher rates of personal trauma than reported for the general population. Study findings and their implications were discussed, as were limitations of the study and future research.