The present study surveyed a sample of 116 Australian therapists who identified themselves as working primarily with traumatized clients. Outcome variables were measures of vicarious traumatization (VT), burnout and trauma symptomatology (intrusion and avoidance). A measure of beliefs about the therapeutic process was constructed for the present study and examined along with other predictor variables, namely years of experience as a therapist, percentage of time spent in clinical work with clients, predominant client group, and recent and direct exposure to trauma in the therapist. Therapist beliefs were found to predict vulnerability to VT and burnout, supporting a cognitive model of therapist distress. Implications of the findings for maintaining therapist health are discussed.

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As support for clinical ethics committees in the UK grows, care must be taken to define their function, membership and method of working and the status of their decisions.

A B S T RA C T Residential group care workers are frequently required to support children with extremely challenging and aggressive behaviour. Our knowledge about the tensions that may exist for workers that manage difficult behaviour is theoretically and empirically underdeveloped. The aim of this exploratory study was to contribute to our understanding of the dynamics of behaviour management in the residential environment by identifying the worker-reported tensions involved in the management of challenging and disruptive behaviour. Seventeen South Australian residential group care workers participated in semistructured interviews in which they were asked to describe their management of behaviour. These interviews were subjected to thematic analysis. The analysis revealed several dynamics that influence workers' management of challenging behaviour: the sense of parenting at a distance, the pressure for consistency, the desire for balance between control and connection, the desire for normality and the inconsistent nature of relationships. These findings contribute to our knowledge about the interpersonal context in which behaviour is addressed in the residential group home and enhance our understanding of the unique tensions that workers' experience in managing behaviour in the residential environment. The findings have implications for the development of staff training and the support of residential care workers managing challenging behaviour.

There were two aims of the research with 190 Australian clinical psychologists: (1) to investigate the construct validity of the Therapist Belief Scale (TBS), and (2) to examine the relative contribution of demographics, workplace variables, and individual factors to burnout. Construct validity was examined using exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses and associations between the variables. Multivariate regressions were used to examine the relative contributions to burnout. The TBS showed three factors related to distress, inflexibility, and control, all of which were significantly associated with lower levels of personal accomplishment. Multivariate analyses showed emotional exhaustion to be associated being a woman, working for the government, having less personal resources, and endorsing more therapist beliefs related to control. Higher levels of personal accomplishment were significantly associated with a lower annual income, not having a mixed caseload, having more personal resources, and endorsing lower levels of therapist beliefs related to inflexibility and control.