Shanti Kulkarni

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.

An Integrative Feminist Model The Evolving Feminist Perspective on Intimate Partner Violence

The feminist perspective on intimate partner violence is a predominant model in the field, although not immune to criticism. In this research, frontline workers in the violence against women movement responded to critiques of the feminist model. The project used a focus group and a modified grounded theory analysis. Participants agreed with some criticisms, including an overreliance on a punitive criminal justice system, but reported skepticism toward proposed alternatives. Findings led to the development of the Integrative Feminist Model, which expands the feminist perspective in response to critiques, new research, and alternative theories while retaining a gendered analysis of violence.

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.

Planning a sexual health promotion intervention with homeless adolescents.

BackgroundHomeless adolescents are at very high risk for sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), but few street-based interventions have been developed, tested, and made available to reduce risk and promote sexual health within this growing population. ObjectivesThis study, part of a larger study of the sexual health practices of homeless adolescents, explores participants’ perceived need for more knowledge about sexual health and their ideas about developing a brief intervention to promote positive sexual health practices that would reflect their perspective. MethodsFour focus groups with five to six participants each were conducted with 22 youth aged 16–20 years, randomly selected from the study sample of 425 homeless youth. Most participants (82%) were White, one was American Indian, two were Hispanic, and one did not indicate ethnicity. Local groups were audiotape recorded, transcribed, and analyzed for manifest and latent content. ResultsParticipants were knowledgeable about symptoms, transmission, prevention, and treatment of STDs, but perceived the need for more knowledge about types of hepatitis, cancer, and long-term sequelae of untreated STDs. Participants identified barriers to seeking diagnosis and treatment for symptoms of STDs including cost, not knowing where to go, and lack of services specifically for females. They suggested developing a sexual health intervention based on respect that would provide concrete examples of how to promote their sexual health. ConclusionsHomeless adolescents were generally knowledgeable about symptoms and prevention of STDs and thought that street outreach interventions should be (a) brief, (b) gender-specific, (c) focused on the unique vulnerabilities and strengths of homeless youth, and (d) accessible.

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.

Interpersonal Violence at the Crossroads Between Adolescence and Adulthood Learning About Partner Violence From Young Mothers

This article examines partner violence at the crossroads between adolescence and adulthood by talking with adolescent mothers—young women who straddle that crossroad. Drawing on ethnographic interviews conducted with 30 adolescent mothers, the accounts of 13 young mothers were analyzed to shed light on the ways in which their experiences of partner violence intersected with their developmental stage. Thematic analysis produced four general categories of themes that included physical proximity of family members, chaos at home, growing up in the shadowof abuse, and making the relationship work. Implications for future research and practice are explored.

Romance Narrative, Feminine Ideals, and Developmental Detours for Young Mothers

Ethnographic interviews with 30 young mothers examined the ways in which contextual factors affected the mothers’ developmental passages. Themes associated with gendered influences from the larger culture emerged across the interviews, including intense feelings of love, stigmas associated with teenage motherhood, and social pressures to be with their children’s fathers. Some mothers described challenging and letting go of romantic illusions and adopting more realistic appraisals of their partners and relationships. Because cultural filters influence adolescent mothers’ perceptions and choices in significant ways, social workers must acknowledge and integrate these gendered influences to engage and intervene more effectively with adolescent mothers.

Explorations of Depression Poetry and Narrative in Autoethnographic Qualitative Research

This article explores the uses of poetry in qualitative research. In this study of the first author’s lived experience with non-clinical depression and the second author’s experience of living with someone experiencing depression, poetry and responsive narrative are used as data, as means of data representation, and processes of inquiry. The authors explore the nature of poetry as a tool for investigating human phenomena and its congruence with post-modern methods of research. Autoethnographic poems are used as data and analyzed via narrative written by the original author of the poem on two separate occasions. A third researcher added an additional layer of narrative analysis for increased depth. This self-reflection provides reflexive analysis of our individual understanding of depression via narrative.

Sexual Victimization and Family Violence Among Urban African American Adolescent Women Do Violence Cluster Profiles Predict Partner Violence Victimization and Sex Trade Exposure

Guided by an intersectional feminist perspective, we examined sexual victimization, witnessing intimate partner violence (IPV) in the family, and familial physical abuse among a sample of 180 urban African American adolescent women. We used cluster analysis to better understand the profiles of cumulative victimization, and the relationships between profiles and IPV victimization and personal exposure to the sex trade. Just under one third of the sample reported sexual victimization, with cooccurrence with both forms of family violence common. The cluster profile with high levels of severe family violence was associated with the highest rate of IPV victimization and sex trade exposure.

Clinical Challenges in Addressing Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) with Pregnant and Parenting Adolescents

Intimate partner violence (IPV) has been identified as a significant issue for pregnant and parenting adolescents. This study thematically analyzed data from focus groups with service providers (n = 43) who work with pregnant and parenting adolescents to learn about barriers and strategies for addressing IPV. Service providers described four primary barriers to addressing IPV with their adolescent clients: adolescent clients’ definitions of love, intergenerational relationship patterns, cultural norms about gender and violence, and developmental-contextual considerations. Service providers also indicated that they respond to adolescents’ IPV related concerns by taking steps to identify IPV, building working relationships, and taking appropriate follow-up action. Results suggest that providers can benefit from increased training and skill development in working with IPV, as well as working in interdisciplinary, collaborative teams to increase effectiveness with challenging cases. Programs should consider integrating IPV prevention initiatives that target broader social norms. Future research should pilot and test the effectiveness of targeted IPV training and programmatic interventions with service providers who work with this population.