Symptoms of Posttraumatic Stress among Child Welfare Workers Who Experience a Maltreatment Fatality on their Caseload

Abstract

Annually, 1,000-2,000 child welfare workers experience the death of a child client. The child welfare field has paid increasing attention to the impact of workplace trauma events on the psychological distress of child welfare workers. In this article the author assesses the relationship between experiencing a maltreatment fatality and workers' posttraumatic stress among a multi-state sample of 385 child welfare workers. Results indicate that a maltreatment fatality is not associated with higher rates of posttraumatic stress. Among child welfare workers who experienced a fatality, those who feel greater culpability for the death report higher levels of posttraumatic stress. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.

Long-Term PTSD Risks in Emergency Medical Technicians Who Responded to the 2016 Taiwan Earthquake: A Six-Month Observational Follow-Up Study

“…The importance of mental health among disaster rescuers has been brought to the public's attention during the last few decades. However, knowledge regarding the relationship between PTSD and personality characteristics, social support, and even the events that rescuers face during their missions is still limited [19,20]. Most of existing reports were derived from cross-sectional studies or follow-up studies using only one evaluation time point.…”

“It Makes you Want to Go Out and Change the World”: Shifts in Victim Advocates’ Perspectives Following the Intimate Partner Homicide of a Client in the United States

“…Studies of other practitioners who work with traumatized populations have similarly underlined the importance of shifting the goal from salvation to accompaniment and of celebrating small victories (Ullman, 2010 ; Woolhouse et al, 2012 ). Specifically, among child welfare workers who experienced child death, workers who believed that the death was unavoidable reported less post-traumatic stress symptoms than those who did not (Douglas, 2013b ). Thus, organizations should foster the development of a protective sense of advocacy as “in the living” [Marisa] both after the IPH and early in advocates’ careers through training (Berger & Gelkopf, 2011 ; Cohen & Collens, 2013 ; Douglas, 2013b ; Frey et al, 2017 ; Molnar et al, 2017 ).…”

Emotional intelligence as a part of critical reflection in social work practice and research

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