Child abuse therapists: Factors of secondary traumatization, growth and sense of treatment effectiveness among child protection workers in Israel.

This research examined the consequences of daily exposure to child abuse cases on the social workers who treat said cases. The research focused on a sample of child protection workers and social welfare workers in Israel. The research had three goals. The first goal was to examine the negative consequences (secondary traumatization) and the positive consequences (growth) of treating child abuse on the personal and professional life of the social workers. The professional aspect examined by the concept of sense of treatment effectiveness. The second goal was to examine the factors that contribute to secondary traumatization, growth, and sense of treatment effectiveness. The third goal was to examine how secondary traumatization contributes to growth and sense of treatment effectiveness.

The theory model for this research was Conservation of Resources (Hobfoll, 1988; Hobfoll, 1989). According to the research goals presented, the variances divided into three categories. The first category included background variances (seniority, age, trauma in the past and life events), personal resource (mastery), social resource (social support), and organizational resources (effective supervision and role stress). The second dimension included secondary traumatic stress as mediation variance between the factors in the first dimension and the third dimension of the variance, growth and sense of treatment effectiveness.

The sample was divided into two comparison groups based on variable exposure to child abuse in order to examine the consequences of exposure.  One group consists of the child protection workers who treat primarily child abuse cases and the other consists of social workers at the local social welfare departments who are exposed to many kinds of human trauma and distress.

The research method was a quantitative cross- sectional survey. We were authorized by the Israeli Ministry of Public Welfare to collect data from social workers at conferences by approaching local social welfare departments. The sample size is 255 social workers, 131 (51.4%) social welfare workers, 124 ((48.6% child protector workers.

The research findings indicate that there is a significant difference in the exposure rate to incidents of child abuse between the two groups.  The child protection workers are more exposed to incidents of child abuse in comparison to social welfare workers. On the organizational level, the child protection workers have more role stress while social welfare workers report more effective supervision. Child protection workers who deal primarily with child abuse cases report experiencing significantly higher levels of secondary traumatization; 64% of the child protection workers have high-severe secondary traumatization in comparison to 37.4% of social welfare workers. At the same time, child protection workers reported higher growth in comparison to social welfare workers. In other words, we found a high correlation between experiencing the cost of the exposure to child abuse cases and the benefits of such exposures such as experiencing personal growth. Within the child protection workers group there was a positive addition of secondary traumatization to growth. There were no differences found between the two groups with regards to treatment effectiveness.

The factors that positively contribute to secondary traumatization are seniority, personal trauma in the past, life events, and role stress. Accordingly, the Conservation of Resources Theory, mastery, social support and supervision effectiveness protect against experiencing secondary traumatization. The factors that have been identified as having a positive contribution on growth are personal trauma in past and life events. Seniority, life events, social support, and supervision effectiveness contribute positively to the sense of treatment effectiveness.

In this research, we aimed to enrich our understanding of organizational factors such as supervision effectiveness and role stress. We examined the three functions according to Kadushin’s definition – supportive, administrative, and educational supervision (Kadushin, 1992; Kadushin & Harkness, 2002). The findings showed that the more time dedicated to emotional aspects, teaching techniques, the more effective the supervision, while the administrative component has negative contribution to supervision effectiveness. The trauma literature emphasizes the importance of the emotional component in supervision of trauma practitioners. Accordingly, we have found that emotional function relates indirectly to lower secondary traumatization and a higher sense of treatment effectiveness. On the other hand, the administrative function relates indirectly to higher secondary traumatization.

The findings from SEM analysis emphasize the understanding that child protection workers report higher incidents of secondary traumatization which contribute to higher growth. To our surprise, the research did not support our basic assumption, which was based on the Conservation of Resources Theory, that social support and supervision effectiveness will contribute to lower secondary traumatization. The mediation model has been found partial. The discussion analyze those findings according to the literature and the reality in the field.     

This research has theoretical and practical implications. From the theoretical aspect, this research might contribute the development of foundational empirical concepts of 'secondary traumatization', 'growth' and 'sense of treatment effectiveness'. From the practical perspective, this research can contribute to the understanding how to maintain the professional functioning and wellbeing of the social workers who treat child abuse cases. The findings can enhance the understanding of how to ease occurrences of secondary traumatization symptoms and nurture growth and the sense of treatment effectiveness. The results can impact the work environment, role definition, and suitable supervision for the social workers who treat child abuse cases.