The Consequences of Secondary Trauma for Rural Victim Service Providers

• In Event: Challenges for Service Providers and Medical Staff when Responding to Victims

Abstract

This presentation will discuss findings from a community-based victim needs assessment conducted in Rural Montana and a CBPR follow-up project. Key informant interviews and focus groups with 49 victim service providers from a diverse range of occupations (e.g., law enforcement, victim advocates, nurses, lawyers, shelter staff, and child protective services) sought to identify rural Montana’s most salient victimization issues. We found that victim service organizations have difficulty finding, training, and keeping qualified and efficacious providers. We developed a model showing that this is due, in part, to the health consequences of the work. Service providers voiced serious concerns about their own wellbeing. Many are isolated and report physical and mental health issues. Substance abuse was also an important theme. Our data indicates that most victim service providers selected into the field because of their own personal histories of victimization. This exacerbates the process of secondary trauma (i.e., compassion fatigue, burnout, vicarious trauma, moral distress, and so forth) and its negative health consequences. Ultimately, our research suggests that the efficacy of victim service provision is in jeopardy, and is contributing to health disparities, in rural Montana.

Authors

• Colter Ellis, Montana State University

• Kelly E. Knight, Montana State University

• Robin A. Robinson, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth