Translating Trauma-Informed Principles into Social Work Practice

Women's experiences of trauma-informed care for forced migrants: A qualitative interview study

Introduction

Forced migration affect the health and wellbeing of millions of women. The aim was to explore experiences of trauma-informed care among women who are forced migrants.

Methods

This was an exploratory qualitative study. Eleven women who had concluded treatment at multidisciplinary trauma centers in Sweden were interviewed, recruited through consecutive sampling. Audio-recorded interviews were transcribed and analyzed with systematic text condensation.

Results

Women dealt with mental and physical manifestations in a challenging psychosocial situation. Various structural and individual barriers were addressed that hindered access to adequate health services. Women appreciated various benefits of the treatment and recalled the care as supportive and compassionate. However, undergoing treatment was considered demanding, requiring significant determination and energy. Participants suggested that peer support could enhance the support.

Conclusions

Migrant women experience a range of health-related burdens and encounter barriers to trauma-informed care. While demanding, treatment has the potential to alleviate symptoms. Health professionals and stakeholders providing trauma-informed care need to ensure that their services are accessible and culturally sensitive towards the unique needs of women. Peer support has the potential to enhance support further, which need further evaluation.

"Survive, learn to live with it … or not": A narrative analysis of women's repeat victimization using a lifecourse perspective

Violence against women is a global public health concern, with high levels of prevalence and debilitating consequences for victims, including a higher risk of revictimization. Quantitative evidence shows a strong association between previous experiences of sexual victimization, particularly in childhood, and future victimization. However, there is limited rigorous qualitative scholarship that advances understanding about revictimization experienced from childhood into adulthood. In this study, we address this gap offering a novel contribution to qualitative insights on revictimization using a life-course perspective. We conducted a rigorous qualitative secondary analysis, adopting a feminist narrative approach, to explore how individuals make sense of their experiences of abuse. Findings showed five main themes about survivors' experiences of repeat victimization across the life-course including: abuse experiences in childhood and adolescence; mental health and 'risky' coping mechanisms; naming abuse in early adulthood; seeking support in adulthood; surviving and a life beyond abuse. Most participants experienced multiple incidents of sexual abuse in childhood, which led to helplessness, shame, blame, and normalization of their experiences, creating a vulnerability to repeat victimization. Childhood abuse had later mental health impacts. Many participants used risky coping mechanisms, such as substance use. Survivors tended to be seen through the lens of their mental health diagnosis and addiction rather than through the lens of how abuse caused complex trauma. To address the impacts of revictimization and complex trauma affecting women across the globe, healthcare policy and services need a narrative and trauma-informed approach, over the short-, medium- or longer-term, enabling survivors to make sense of the connected nature of their experiences and accumulated vulnerability resulting from the abuse by others, rather than factors associated with the individual (their mental ill health, for example, or substance use). This is important as women's individual understanding is critical to processing trauma and abuse, and to longer-term recovery.

Burned Out, Engaged, Both, or Neither? Exploring Engagement and Burnout Profiles among Social Workers in Spain

Few studies have analyzed the existence of homogeneous groups (profiles) in burnout and engagement among professionals, and none in social workers. This study with 448 social workers from Spain mainly examined their profiles in burnout and engagement and the characteristics of each profile in relevant job-related variables. Cluster analyses yielded four distinct profiles: the first, Burned Out, showed high burnout and low engagement; the second, Engaged, exhibited the inverse pattern with low burnout and high engagement; the third, Both, displayed simultaneously high burnout and high engagement; the fourth, Neither, showed low burnout and low engagement. The profiles also differed greatly in work-related variables: job demands (i.e., workload and work--family conflict), job resources (i.e., support from supervisor and coworkers), personal resources (i.e., psychological detachment and relaxation), and outcomes (i.e., intrinsic job satisfaction and intent to leave). The findings support interventions, individual and organizational, tailored to the characteristics of different groups to boost engagement and decrease burnout and turnover.

Vicarious Trauma Scale: Psychometric Properties in a Sample of Social Workers from Spain

As a result of secondary exposure to traumatic material, social workers may experience vicarious trauma. However, the analysis of this variable among social workers is scarce. The Vicarious Trauma Scale (VTS) is a brief instrument designed to measure the stress consequence of shared trauma. This study aims to examine the psychometrics of the VTS in a sample of 448 social workers from Spain. The results from the exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses (EFA and CFA) indicated that the VTS has satisfactory psychometric properties. Different indices of internal consistency supported the reliability of the VTS. Both EFA and CFA revealed the existence of two factors, corresponding to the cognitive and affective consequences of secondary exposure to trauma. Finally, the correlations of the VTS with other relevant and well-known job variables (workload, work-family conflict, detachment, supervisor support, burnout, and engagement) followed the expected pattern, and the VTS differentiated the social workers by their trauma caseload. Therefore, the VTS can be considered an adequate screening method of social workers' vicarious trauma, and its application recommended to examine the possible risk and protective factors and consequences.

Citizens defining citizenship: A model grounded in lived experience and its implications for research, policy and practice

Citizenship is gaining currency in health and social care internationally as a way of making sense of the lived experiences of people with major life disruptions who face exclusion, marginalisation and discrimination, but the concept is often contested, poorly defined and understood. This paper charts the development of an empirical model of citizenship within Scotland, UK. A mixed-method, community-based participatory research approach using 10 focus groups (n = 77), concept-mapping exercises (n = 45) and statement clarity and relevant ratings (n = 242) was used to develop a model of citizenship that is grounded in the lived experience of participants, which is absent from current conceptualisations of citizenship. Multidimensional scaling and hierarchical cluster analysis revealed five core domains emerging from our work: 'building relationships', 'autonomy and acceptance', 'access to services and supports', 'shared values and social roles' and 'civic rights and responsibilities' representing the personal meanings of citizenship for participants. We argue that the value of this model is that it is draws upon the personal understandings and experiences of participants who emphasised the 'banal ordinariness' of its core elements. We suggest that the model makes an original contribution by clearly illustrating the practical applicability of citizenship as a concept; thus, enhancing existing theories of citizenship. Our model highlights the interplay between the relational and structural aspects of citizenship and acknowledges the barriers that marginalised groups face in claiming their citizenship rights. It offers a call to action for policy makers and practitioners to set goals that contribute to the social inclusion of those who have experienced major life disruptions.

“Hurt people hurt other people”: The link between past trauma and sexual offending

Background

A growing body of research documents the high rates of trauma among individuals who have sexually offended. Yet the relationship between prior victimization and subsequent sexual offending remained unclear. Objective: By including the voices and perspectives of individuals convicted of sexual offenses, we sought to strengthen professionals’ understanding of the connection between victimization and offending.

Method

This qualitative study used an online survey to collect data from individuals convicted of sexual offenses (n = 195) with the aims of understanding their perceptions of the link between trauma and offending and what they would like sex-offense treatment providers to know about this connection.

Results

Using grounded theory, five major themes emerged from the data analysis: Relationship between Trauma Offending (n = 91), Acknowledging the Connection (n = 57), Specific Effects of Trauma (n = 48), Individualized Treatment (n = 34), and Recognition of Humanity (n = 26).

Conclusions

The participants perceived a strong connection between one’s own victimization and subsequent sexual offending. In addition, they offered specific recommendations for treatment providers, including individualizing treatment with an emphasis on humanity and compassion. Implications for trauma-informed practice and policy are discussed.

The Perceptions and Needs of Practitioners Working to Promote Smart Decarceration

The social work Grand Challenge to Promote Smart Decarceration's aim is to address the high rates of incarceration in the United States.

PURPOSE

Yet very little is known about criminal justice practitioners in the U.S.

METHOD

In this exploratory study. Practitioners in correctional facilities (n = 38), responded to an online survey asking them about their perceptions of the services they provide and to identify their professional needs working within these settings.

RESULTS

Findings include the need for people who are incarcerated to have access to treatment for substance use, behavioral/mental health, and trauma-related issues. In addition, they reported the need for service coordination with agencies based in their home communities. Furthermore, the participants reported that they need more training and support on these topics in order to provide effective services to their clients.

DISCUSSION

Implications for practice, research, and policy are discussed, including strategies to address all levels of primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention.