The effect of vicarious trauma on staff: best practice management and strategies

Coping strategies and resilience of members of the Faculty of Forensic and legal medicine was measured in an attempt to establish how they cope with the impact of witnessing the trauma of the patients they see on a daily basis. Belief in a just world was also measured as it was believed to be a mediating factor in the psychological distress exhibited in the medical practitioners that participated in this study.
Method: One hundred and twenty members of the Faculty of Forensic and Legal Medicine (65 females, 54 males and 1 undisclosed) volunteered to participate in this study. Data was collected online using Survey Monkey, which was e-mailed to the members of the FFLM and they were invited to participate in this study. The participants filled out the Personal Belief in a Just World Scale (Dalbert, 1999) and General Belief in a Just World Scale (Dalbert, Montada & Schmitt, 1987), the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale 25 (Connor & Davidson, 2003), The COPE (Carver, 1997) and the Brief Symptom Inventory (Derogatis, 1993).
Results: A multiple regression with stepwise entry was carried out as this data meets the assumptions. Years of experience working in this field was excluded but PBJW, coping strategies and resilience were identified as having a significant relationship with psychological distress.
Conclusion: Although this is only a preliminary study into this phenomenon, it identifies a clear relationship between coping strategies and resilience and psychological distress. This warrants further investigation and will be the focus of further investigation in this field.