Browsing by Author "South African Police Service"

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    Vicarious traumatisation : the impact on police officials investigating crimes against children
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2002-12) Stevens, Liesl; South African Police Service; Nortje, C.; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Department of Psychology.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The purpose of the present study was to investigate the nature and incidence of vicarious traumatisation (VT) amongst members of the South African Police Service Child Protection Unit. The concept of VT purports that as a result of their empathic engagement with the traumatic material of their clients, helpers will experience disruptions in their basic schemas relating to self and others, and may also experience posttraumatic stress symptomatology in the form of intrusive images, thoughts, and avoidance phenomena. Two areas believed to be most susceptible to effects of vicarious trauma were examined, namely five psychological need areas and related cognitive schemas, and the imagery component of the memory system. The latter includes intrusion phenomena, which, in turn, give rise to a wide variety of ways of avoidance. Furthermore, the relationship between VT and a number of potentially related variables, namely the helper's a previous trauma history of abuse and the coping strategies utilised in an attempt to ameliorate the negative effects of vicarious traumatisation, were examined. Participants included 29 members of the South African Police Service Child Protection Unit (CPU) in the Western Cape. The three control groups comprised mental health professionals, outpatient mental health clients, and chronic mental health patients. The Traumatic Stress Institute Belief Scale (Revision L)(TSIBS) was used to measure disruptions in psychological need areas and related cognitive schemas. The Impact of Event Scale (IES) was utilised to measure the intrusion and/or avoidance symptoms associated with posttraumatic stress disorder. The presence of a personal history of physical, sexual and/or emotional abuse among CPU members was determined by means of semi-structured questions. The COPE questionnaire was utilised to determine the various coping strategies used by the participants in an attempt to deal with the stressors associated with providing a service to victims/survivors of sexual abuse. The results indicated that the CPU group exhibited significantly higher levels of disruption in their psychological need areas and related cognitive schemas than the mental health professionals, significantly lower levels of disruption than the chronic mental health patients, and significantly higher levels of disruption than the outpatient mental health clients with regard to the following needs/schemas: safety (self and other), other-trust and other-esteem. With regard to intrusion and avoidance symptomatology, it was evident that 75.9% of the CPU members were demonstrating symptom levels corresponding to the high category of clinical concern. Relationships between a disruption of needs/schemas in general, and the incidence of intrusion and avoidance phenomena were insignificant. On the other hand, disruptions of certain specific needs/schemas (i.e., self-esteem and other-intimacy) were significantly associated with the occurrence of intrusion and/or avoidance. No significant differences between participants with and without a personal history of trauma were found. With regard to the association between the functionality of coping strategies and vicarious trauma symptomatology, a significant negative relationship was found between planning (a positive coping strategy) and a general disruption of needs/schemas, and significant positive relationships between denial and behavioural disengagement (negative coping strategies) and a general disruption of needs/schemas. These findings were consistent with previous research that showed that the use of positive coping strategies are associated with decreased levels of disruption in cognitive schemas, and that negative strategies are associated with an increased level of cognitive disruption. Relationships between positive and negative coping strategies, and intrusion and avoidance symptomatology were insignificant. Results from the present study strongly support the notion that as a result of their interaction with sexually abused children, police officials may be negatively impacted by their work. Furthermore, the findings of this study support the usefulness of the concept of vicarious traumatisation in understanding the experience of the helper working with traumatised clients. However, due to the complex nature of the construct of vicarious traumatisation, further research into factors that may prevent, mitigate, or intensify the effects of work with trauma survivors on helpers is crucial.