Patrice A. Keats

Coping with traumatic stress in journalism: A critical ethnographic study

Journalists who witness trauma and disaster events are at risk for physical, emotional, and psychological injury. The purpose of this paper is to present the results of a critical ethnographic study among 31 Canadian journalists and photojournalists with regard to coping strategies used to buffer the effects of being exposed to trauma and disaster events and work-related stress. The findings are the result of in-depth individual interviews and six workplace observations with journalists across Canada. The most commonly reported coping strategies were: avoidance strategies at work, use of black humor, controlling ones emotions and memories, exercise and other physical activities, focusing on the technical aspects, and using substances. Recommendations for addressing the effects of work-related stress within this population are provided.

Vicarious Witnessing in European Concentration Camps: Imagining the Trauma of Another:

When standing before the historical evidence of a massive trauma such as the Holocaust, people vicariously witness the trauma through photographs, artistic images, survivor stories, and physical artifacts. From this evidence, the mind creates a semblance of the historic event. The effect of this reconstruction involves a powerful experience, whereby people believe that they know something very deeply about the event by living imaginatively through the experiences of another. This phenomenon is the vicarious witnessing experience. This qualitative research project explores the impact of vicarious witnessing during visits to concentration camps in Germany and Poland. Each participant constructed three types of narrative perspectives before, during, and after visiting the camps, including written (travel journals), spoken (interview and conversational dialogues), and visual (photography) texts. In analyzing these texts, the author utilized two types of narrative analyses, interpretive readings and narrative instances. The analysis showed how participants filtered their vicarious witnessing experience through personal, social, and cultural frameworks, created a safe vicarious witnessing experience, and made sense of their experiences through the perspective of their own lives. Language: en

ADDRESSING THE EFFECTS OF ASSIGNMENT STRESS INJURY

The purpose of this article is to present the results of a qualitative study on assignment stress injury within journalism. Thirty-one Canadian journalists and photojournalists participated in the research study. The focus of this article is on recommendations offered by our participants to address the effects of traumatic stress within their profession.

The Moment is Frozen in Time: Photojournalists’ Metaphors in Describing Trauma Photography

In describing their understanding of trauma, disaster, and conflict photography, photojournalists in this qualitative study conceptualized abstract experiences using specific types of metaphors. Their metaphors focused on concepts such as violence, bewilderment, and health/affliction. The unique aspect of these metaphors was how they were reflective of aspects of journalism culture and the work of trauma photography. Through a metaphorical analysis of these figurative expressions, I show how metaphors construct a conceptual system of understanding the work of trauma photography and occupational identity, as well as influence the formation of the culture of journalism itself. Understanding this metaphorical picture may add to our knowledge about how traumatic stress injuries are recognized, managed, and aided in newsrooms.

Buying into the profession: looking at the impact on students of expert videotape demonstrations in counsellor education

ABSTRACT From analysing qualitative questionnaires, a group interview, and instructor interviews this study explores the impact of viewing expert demonstration videotapes on students’ learning processes, their identification as counsellors, and understanding of the counselling profession. Commonly, students selectively choose what they see and how they see it. They describe a process of ‘shopping’ and ‘buying into’ specific theoretical, practical, and professional perspectives. Additionally, students give suggestions for the most helpful use of expert demonstration videos in counsellor education. The paper concludes with key questions for further study.

Covering Trauma in Canadian Journalism: Exploring the Challenges

This critical ethnographic study is an investigation of the effects of witnessing trauma for Canadian journalists and photojournalists working on national and international assignments. Our primary aim is to describe our participants’ understanding of the effects of covering trauma, disaster, or conflict within a journalism culture. Our findings are derived from in-depth interviews and workplace observations with journalists across Canada. Of specific note are the tensions that exist between the journalists’ beliefs about appropriate practices within the culture of journalism and their personal experiences in the field. These tensions may exacerbate negative effects of witnessing human violence and suffering. Articulating and exploring these tensions may contribute to our understanding of the use and type of support needed and desired by news workers both in and out of the newsroom.

Time-Limited Service Alternatives: Using Therapeutic Enactment in Open Group Therapy

The current college counseling literature reports increases in the number of requests for counseling services on campuses, as well as increases in the complexity and severity of client problems. These changes have lead counselors to search for alternative means of providing effective and efficient therapeutic assistance to students in need. In this article, we introduce an innovative group counseling approach that combines the open group therapy format with therapeutic enactment (TE) intervention techniques for students with psychosocial issues. The approach is introduced, a group example illustrating the method is presented, and important ethical and clinical considerations are discussed.

Overexposed: Capturing a secret side of sports photography

Accredited photographers have been observed taking sexualized, voyeuristic images of athletes that are later distributed on pornography websites and among collectors of pornographic images. As with other emergent forms of digital voyeurism, such as upskirting, these images are taken in public places in such a way that they capture compromising moments without any awareness on the part of the victim, and expand the temporal and geographical scope of the intrusion. Such a prurient use of photographs can be devastating and humiliating for the athletes. An examination of the ambiguity of an image’s meaning, especially in the eyes of the law, is used to demonstrate the inadequacy of legal approaches to policing these kinds of voyeurism. In addition, an exploration of the culture of sports journalism, where the priority of self-promotion and competition often underscores the lack of attention given to the rampant sexism that frequently pervades the profession, is used to illustrate the apparent factors that precipitate and maintain the practice of sports voyeurism. Recommendations for potential interventions and further research are provided.

The book of the wind: The representation of the invisible

Trying to visualise what is imperceptible to the eye has been a significant challenge for artists throughout art history. In his book, Alessandro Nova uses the invisible body of the wind as a focus of investigating the significant moments of progress in artists’ attempts to represent what they cannot see. He proposes the history of wind as an important medium for investigating visual culture and the vast changes in representing the invisible.

Qualitative Evidence on Psychological Trauma

This chapter presents the qualitative evidence on psychological trauma. Qualitative research brings “real world” issues into the clinical setting, assisting practitioners working with trauma survivors. It brings in-depth understanding and has the potential to illuminate the complexity of personal experience. In this chapter, the authors present the qualitative research findings on psychological trauma. It is well documented that psychological trauma has serious health effects. A diagnosis of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) has long lasting health implications as evidenced in current health research. Through a systematic review of the psychological and health literature, the authors present the qualitative research evidence on psychological trauma within various topic domains: disaster trauma, refugee trauma, military trauma, sexual abuse trauma, and first responder trauma. Knowledge transfer strategies and a discussion of future directions for qualitative research on psychological trauma are presented.