Paper
Friday, July 13, 2007
The Effects and Support of Healthcare Workers Exposed to Vicarious Trauma
Susan Hattingh, Department of Health Studies, University of South Africa, Pretoria, South Africa
| Learning Objective #1: identify the adverse effects of psychological trauma in nurses working in primary health care settings. |
| Learning Objective #2: identify the shortcomings in the psychological support of nurses in the clinical field. |
Traumatic events occur and affect people during their lifetime. Trauma may be the result of psychological events such as violence, for example being abused. Trauma can also be of a physical nature, eg learning that one has a terminal disease, finding out about a positive HIV status. The traumatised individual often seeks the assistance of nurses, to help them cope with traumatic experiences. Traumatised people’s friends/family often discourages them from articulating their experiences, as it is too distressing for them to hear.
Nurses, who are exposed to others’ trauma in their daily work, are often traumatised and overburdened by narratives and events that happened to others and they will give meaning to traumatic events depending on how they as individuals experience them. Interpretations of traumatic events can result in nurses’ experiencing changes in the way they view themselves, others and their world. “Vicarious trauma” describes the disruptions in cognitive schemas (i.e., core beliefs about self, others and the world) and behaviour changes experienced by nurses who treat the traumatised. Vicarious trauma is an occupational hazard for all those who care for and support trauma survivors. Nurses experiencing vicarious trauma begin to see the world through “trauma lenses” and continuous exposure to trauma survivors sustains this view.
The focus is usually on the effects of trauma on the primary victims and not on those who care for and support them (secondary victims). Because secondary victims are not directly involved in the traumatic event, their distress often goes undetected.
The effects of vicarious trauma experienced by nurses need to be understood in the context of the work environment. Nurses, who render services to traumatised individuals, often become the victims of trauma themselves. It is thus imperative to ensure that psychological support services are developed to assist nurses to deal with trauma.