Barns trauma är allt annat än enkelt- sekundär traumatisering hos socialarbetare

Child trauma is anything but simple- social workers affected by secondary traumatization

The purpose of this study is to examine how social workers who work with abused children are affected by secondary trauma, what consequences can be caused bysecondary trauma, and how to prevent social workers from developing secondary trauma. The theoretical framework includes Lazarus & Folkman's (1984) coping theory and the Demand-control-support theory (Karasek & Theorell, 1990).

This study is a structured literature review but with method features from systematic literature studies. To explore the questions, the process of finding and screening articles included three databases and a manual search. This process started with 91 articles and was deducted to the final 10 articles that met the criteria and were analyzed through a narrative synthesis.

The results showed that the following themes: workload and work experience, work environment and organizational factors, and the conflict between work and family life are affecting the risk for social workers to develop secondary trauma. Consequences that were identified included physical, psychological, and other types of consequences. Preventative actions included self-care, coping strategies, and protective factors. These results were discussed in reference to previous research and theoretical framework.

To conclude, social workers who work with abused children are at risk of being affected by secondary trauma. The consequences and preventive actions differ depending on the context and person. Thus, finding a blueprint for avoiding and minimizing the risk of developing secondary traumatization does not exist, instead, it is a process where strategies are continually evolving. 

Keywords: Secondary trauma, social workers, abused children, work environment.

Nyckelbegrepp: Sekundär traumatisering, socialarbetare, våldsutsatta barn, arbetsmiljö.

Stacey Carlsten

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