Vicarious trauma and resilience in volunteer telephone ...

VicarioustraumaandresilienceinvolunteertelephonecounsellorsTerpsichoriKaltsouni,PhDStudente:r01tk16@abdn.ac.uk

www.abdn.ac.uk

AbstractThepurposeofthisstudyistoexaminetherelationshipbetweenvicarioustrauma,personalitytraitsandattachmentbondsinvolunteertelephonecounsellors.Moreover,throughthisstudy,Iwillalsoexploreanyrelationshipsbetweencounsellors’resilience,personalitytraitsandattachmentbondsandhowsuchrelationshipsmayimpactonthedevelopmentofpost-traumaticgrowth.

IntroductionMentalhealthprofessionsareknowntobeatriskofdevelopingpost-traumaticstressdisorder(PTSD)throughexposuretotheirclients’traumaticnarratives,despitenotbeingexposedtotheseeventsdirectly.Thisphenomenonhasbeencharacterized asvicarioustraumatization.Anempathicengagementwithaclient’straumaticexperiencescanleadtolong- termchangestoanindividual’swayofexperiencingthemselves,othersandtheworldandsymptomsthatmayparallelthoseoftheirclient.However,inordertosurviveandthriveinthefaceofadversity,mentalhealthprofessionsadoptprocessesandcopingmechanismswhichareknownasresilience. Throughresilience,counsellorstrytoadapttochallengesandcauseapositivepsychologicalchangetotheirprofessionalandpersonallife.Eventhoughthevicariousimpactoftraumaandresiliencehavebeenrecordedinvariousgroups,limitedresearchhasbeendoneintheUnitedKingdomandespeciallywithvolunteertelephonecounsellors.

ProposedMethodologyAtthisstageofmyresearch,theproposedmethodologyismixedmethods.Theresearchwillbedividedintotwomainparts:quantitativeandqualitativeresearch.First,questionnaireswillbeadministeredinordertoexplorethedominantpersonalitytraitsofvolunteertelephonecounsellorsandtheattachmentbonds.Thisdatawillalsoenabletoexploretherelationshipsbetweenvicarioustrauma,personalitytraitandattachmentbonds.Secondly,semi- structuredinterviewsandethnographywillbeusedwithamainpurposetoexplore,inmoredepth,theresiliencelevelsofvolunteercounsellorsaccordingtotheirpersonalitytraitsandattachmentbondsandhowthesetraitsandbondsmayhelpthemtoachievepost- traumaticgrowth.

Personalitytrait

Vicarioustrauma

Attachmentbonds

ExpectedOutcomesTheexpectedoutcomesofthisresearchare:I. toestablishhowparticularcharacteristics ofpersonality

(e.g.extroversion/introversion,neuroticism,agreeableness,conscientiousnessandopenness)ofvolunteertelephonecounsellorsinaUKcontextaffecttheirpropensitytoexperiencevicarioustrauma.

II. toestablishhowparticularattachmentbonds(e.g..secure/insecure,anxious- ambivalentandanxious- avoidantattachment)ofvolunteertelephonecounsellorsinfluencetheirtendencytoexperiencevicarioustrauma.

III. toestablishtheresiliencelevelsofvolunteertelephonecounsellorsaccordingtotheirpersonalitytraitsandattachmentbondsand

IV. toestablishthatpost- traumaticgrowthisnotclients’characteristiconly,butvolunteercounsellorsaswell,basedontheirpersonalitytraitsandattachmentbonds.

ProposedResearchQuestionsü Whatarethedominantpersonalitytraits

ofvolunteercounsellors?ü Whyaresomevolunteertelephone

counsellorsmorevulnerablethanothertoexperiencevicarioustraumatization?

ü Whataretherelationshipsbetweenvicarioustrauma,personalitytraitandattachmentbonds?

ü Arethereanyrelationshipsbetweenpersonalitytraits,attachmentbondsandresilience?

ü Whataretherelationshipsbetweenvolunteercounsellors’personalitytrait,attachmentbondsandpost- traumaticgrowth? Acknowledgment

IwouldliketoacknowledgethesupportprovidedbymysupervisorsProfRuthIrwinandDrSalmaSiddique.IalsothanktheGraphicsTeam-UniversityofAberdeen,ITServices:MediaServices,fortheirguidance.