Holly Bell

Organizational Prevention of Vicarious Trauma

For the past 30 years, researchers and practitioners have been concerned about the impact of work stress experienced by social workers. Although research on burnout has been a useful field of exploration, a new concern has arisen about work stresses specifically associated with work with victims of trauma. The concept of vicarious trauma provides insights into the stresses of this particular kind of work. Like the burnout research, early research on vicarious trauma has identified both personal and organizational correlates. In this article, the authors review the growing literature on the organizational components of vicarious trauma and suggest changes in organizational culture, workload, group support, supervision, self-care, education, and work environment that may help prevent vicarious trauma in staff.

Cycles within Cycles Domestic Violence, Welfare, and Low-Wage Work

The domestic violence literature documents the cyclical nature of womens relationships with violent partners. Furthermore, research on low-income women also indicates that many cycle between welfare and low-wage work. This qualitative study illustrates how these cycles intersect in the lives of 17 low-income battered women. Longitudinal in-depth interviews reveal three factors that may contribute to cycling in and out of both work and abusive relationships: lack of court-ordered child support, lack of formal child care, and interference or abuse that limits the womans ability to work. The womens stories illustrate the limitations of the Family Violence Option. More flexible policies are needed to address domestic violence among Temporary Assistance to Needy Families recipients.

Back to Basics Essential Qualities of Services for Survivors of Intimate Partner Violence

Survivor voice is essential to effectively implement survivor-focused IPV (intimate partner violence) services. In this focus group study, domestic violence survivors (n = 30) shared detailed perspectives as service seekers and recipients, whereas national hotline advocates (n = 24) explored relationships between service providers and survivors based on their interactions with both. Four thematic categories related to enhancing IPV services emerged: providing empathy, supporting empowerment, individualizing care, and maintaining ethical boundaries. Advocates identified additional factors that interfered with quality services, including the following: inadequate organizational resources, staff burnout, lack of training, and poor integration with other community resources. Respectful, empowering relationships are the centerpiece for quality IPV services.

Using Context to Build Rigor Application to Two Hermeneutic Phenomenological Studies

There is no single guideline to assist researchers in creating high quality research within qualitative methods. This article proposes that rigor requires both a determination of actual or possible vulnerabilities and strategies that begin with an examination of the study itself rather than with a predetermined list of standardized practices. Two studies demonstrate how an inductive approach to rigor conducted within the framework of a particular qualitative approach, e.g. hermeneutic phenomenology, can produce greater thoroughness and understanding of a paradigms epistemological assumptions. The studies include the lived experience of survivors of homicide victims, and women in substance abuse recovery.

Male Customers of Prostituted Women Exploring Perceptions of Entitlement to Power and Control and Implications for Violent Behavior Toward Women

This study explores the underlyingstructure of the perceptions of 1,342 men arrested for tryingto hire a prostituted woman on the street. The analysis identified eight structural dimensions that accounted for 47% of the explained variance. Three factors contained items reflectingpatriarchal views of women and perceived entitlement to power and control, which are issues that could lead men to exhibit violence. Findings suggest that lower levels of education, conservative attitudes toward sexuality, more frequent pornography use, and traumatic life experiences may be related to entitlement to power and control factors, which in turn could be used to justify violence against women.

Exploiter or Exploited: Topless Dancers Reflect on Their Experiences

This article presents a secondary analysis of interviews with 30 current and former topless dancers, focusing on references to their experiences of stigma and exploitation. No dancers expressed the opinion that dancers alone were exploited by topless dancing. They cited the mutual exploitation of customers and dancers and exploitation of customers by dancers. In addition, some experienced the stigma associated with topless dancing as exploitation. The implications of the findings for the feminist debate on whether sex work exploits women and for social work practice are discussed.

Exploring Individual and Organizational Factors Contributing to Compassion Satisfaction, Secondary Traumatic Stress, and Burnout in Domestic Violence Service Providers

Research on workplace wellness often neglects the role of organizational factors in preventing negative effects and promoting positive outcomes for service providers. Using a person–environment fit model, which highlights compatibility between an individual worker’s characteristics and his or her work environment, we examine key risk and protective factors that might contribute to the well-being of domestic violence services providers. Service providers working in domestic violence agencies completed a Web-based survey measuring their perceptions of organizational factors (e.g., workload, control, reward, community, fairness, organizational values) and outcome variables of provider burnout, secondary traumatic stress, and compassion satisfaction. Individual–organizational mismatch emerges as a significant risk factor for burnout and secondary traumatic stress, both of which are negative outcomes associated with less manageable workloads. Secondary traumatic stress is also associated with providers’ feelings of having little control over their work and spending more time in leisure, which might be in response to symptoms. Compassion satisfaction is positively associated with higher levels of work experience in domestic violence services and with providers who share the values of their organization. Organizational interventions that protect workers and promote these distinct dimensions of worker wellness can yield vital benefits associated with a healthy workforce.

Spirituality and Faith-Based Interventions: Pathways to Disaster Resilience for African American Hurricane Katrina Survivors

Research has shown that spirituality and religion are important sources of resilience and coping in adversity such as disasters, particularly for African Americans. In addition, churches and faith-based service providers are key actors in disaster relief and recovery. After Hurricane Katrina, research on survivors has focused little on the role of spirituality and religion in their recovery. This case study illustrates that even without soliciting it, survivors who evacuated to a host city talked about the importance of spirituality and religion in their recovery process. Further, interviews and observations with local service providers illustrate that few practitioners utilized spirituality or religion as a resource and that coordination between faith-based and secular service providers was problematic. Our research highlights a neglected area of cultural competence for those providing services to Katrina survivors. We discuss the implications for social work policy and practice.

Complexity and Instability: The Response of Nongovernmental Organizations to the Recovery of Hurricane Katrina Survivors in a Host Community

This case study of a single host city documents the complexity of the local response to displaced survivors of Hurricane Katrina by nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and faith-based organizations (FBOs). Although additional disaster-related funding provided needed case management and financial services, it also added complexity to the service delivery system. Furthermore, changes in the federal disaster and income maintenance programs to address the crisis created an unstable service environment that was challenging for both survivors and service providers to navigate. NGOs and FBOs proved to be highly motivated, flexible, and creative. However, the response overall was marked by limited resources, equity, accountability, and coordination, illustrating some of the weaknesses of devolution and the increasing reliance on NGOs to provide basic services.

The State and Civil Society Response to Disaster: The Challenge of Coordination

This article presents a case study of the reception of low-income Hurricane Katrina evacuees in Austin, Texas, to reveal the multiple barriers and problems faced by families and individuals dislodged by Katrina, as well as the difficulties faced by the service providers. The authors surveyed evacuees who had used the emergency shelter system and received housing assistance at least 10 weeks after the disaster. These survey data are supplemented with focus group and individual interviews with the city staff who conducted the survey, as well as interviews and participant observation with a range of service providers who assisted evacuees in the months following Katrina. Austin’s case managers were able to quickly organize and respond to evacuee families with an array of emergency services, including food and household goods. They also introduced new coordination efforts among agencies to distribute newly available Katrina funding. These efforts were aimed at both targeting emergency services and enhancing the capacity of case managers to help evacuees negotiate the complex maze of emergency and human services, particularly Federal Emergency Management Agency. Nevertheless, these coordination efforts were insufficient to address the problem of low-income urban evacuees living in indefinitely prolonged but possibly temporary circumstances.