Working with sex offenders: the impact on Australian treatment providers

Hatcher, Ruth M.; Noakes, Sarah

doi:10.1080/10683160802622030

Cited by 42 publications

(84 citation statements)

References 42 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…One of these strategies is seeking professional supervision. This finding was supported by the research literature, which claimed that consulting serves to compensate for the feeling of pressure, isolation, and alienation resulting from the stigma of working with sex offenders (Kadambi & Truscott, 2003), providing an opportunity to express, process, and normalize responses of counter-transference (Ennis & Horne, 2003) and reducing levels of compassion exhaustion (Hatcher & Noakes, 2010). Supervision is seen as a factor that fosters positive attitudes among the team of therapists working with sex offenders, raises their self-confidence as to their own knowledge and skills, and increases the team's trust in the effectiveness of the therapy.…”

Section: Copingmentioning

confidence: 64%

On the Lived Experience of Sex Offenders’ Therapists: Their Perceptions of Intrapersonal and Interpersonal Consequences and Patterns of Coping

Elias

Haj‐Yahia

2016

J Interpers Violence

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In the last two decades, there has been a growing understanding that the therapeutic encounter with sex offenders takes a cost and has consequences on therapists. Despite the increasing research on the consequences of treating sex offenders, these studies in fact, have merely described the consequences, without providing an outlook for how therapists cope with them. The study presented in this article was part of a larger qualitative research project conducted among social workers, using in-depth semi-structured interviews. Emphasis is placed on therapists' perceptions of the intrapersonal and interpersonal consequences they experience from treating sex offenders, as well as the strategies they use to cope with these consequences. The study's central findings concern the therapists' perception of the intrapersonal consequences, which included two levels: primary responses and cumulative responses, and their perception of the interpersonal consequences that included their parenting relationships, intimate relationships, their attitude toward others (strangers and acquaintances), loss of their quality of life, and further positive consequences. The findings indicated a sequence and integrated use of the strategies to cope with the consequences. The results are discussed in light of the theoretical framework of Lazarus and Folkman's stress and coping theory. The limitations of the study as well as its implications for future research are discussed.

show abstract

Section: Copingmentioning

confidence: 64%

On the Lived Experience of Sex Offenders’ Therapists: Their Perceptions of Intrapersonal and Interpersonal Consequences and Patterns of Coping

Elias

Haj‐Yahia

2016

J Interpers Violence

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Indeed, examining correlates of compassion satisfaction from a theoretical perspective has extended the literature on the correlates of compassion satisfaction beyond work-context correlates, such as specialised training in trauma work (Sprang et al, 2007), work experience (Craig & Sprang, 2010), and environmental safety (Hatcher & Noakes, 2010). These and other work-context variables (e.g., job role) are, of course, also important to examine and may be controlled for in future research, where the sample size permits the 620 C. Samios et al…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The protective role of compassion satisfaction for therapists who work with sexual violence survivors: an application of the broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions

Samios

Abel

Rodzik

2013

Anxiety, Stress & Coping

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Therapists who work with trauma survivors, such as survivors of sexual violence, can experience compassion satisfaction while experiencing negative effects of trauma work, such as secondary traumatic stress. We examined whether the negative effects of secondary traumatic stress on therapist adjustment would be buffered by compassion satisfaction and whether the broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions could be applied to examine the factors (positive emotions and positive reframing) that relate to compassion satisfaction. Sixty-one therapists who work with sexual violence survivors completed measures of secondary traumatic stress, compassion satisfaction, adjustment, positive emotions and positive reframing. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses found that compassion satisfaction buffered the negative impact of secondary traumatic stress on therapist adjustment when adjustment was conceptualised as anxiety. Using non-parametric bootstrapping, we found that the relationship between greater positive emotions and greater compassion satisfaction was partially mediated by positive reframing. The findings indicate that compassion satisfaction is likely to be helpful in ameliorating the negative effects of secondary traumatic stress on anxiety in therapists who work with sexual violence survivors and that the broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions may provide a strong theoretical basis for the further examination of compassion satisfaction in trauma therapists.

show abstract

“…First, if the reported distress is solely attributable to the nature of the work, as is generally accepted, why are not all therapists impacted in a similar way; and secondly, what of the two-thirds to three-quarters of therapists who do not report such negative symptoms? Added to this, consideration also needs to be given the less often reported finding that anywhere in the region of 75Á96% of treatment providers describe delivering therapeutic services to sex offenders as being the most rewarding and satisfying activities of their career (Edmunds, 1997;Ellerby, 1998;Hatcher & Noakes, 2010;Kadambi, 2000;Kadambi & Truscott, 2006;Turner, 1992).…”

Section: The Impact Literaturementioning

confidence: 96%

“…From one of the earliest published studies (Farrenkopf, 1992) throughout the following 20 years (e.g. Hatcher & Noakes, 2010), the emphasis has been on negative psychological impact. Variously conceptualised as burnout (Maslach, 1976(Maslach, , 1982Maslach & Jackson, 1981, 1986, compassion fatigue (Figley, 1995) and vicarious trauma (Pearlman & Saakvitne (1995), the symptom list seems inexorable.…”

Section: The Impact Literaturementioning

confidence: 99%

Working with sex offenders: Best practice in enhancing practitioner resilience

Clarke

2011

Journal of Sexual Aggression

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The systematic and widespread treatment of sex offenders is a comparatively recent innovation in the human services field. Consequently, research considering the impact of such work on providers and organisations is still in its infancy. The first swathe of international research, published throughout the 1990s, identified a range of deleterious effects for treatment providers, ranging from mild anxiety to severe psychological morbidity. More recent findings indicate a considerably more optimistic psychological future. This paper seeks to provide the reader with an overview of the relevant literature, together with its shortcomings, and introduce the Model of Dynamic Adaptation (MDA), a framework through which variables associated with both positive and negative outcomes may be grouped and managed. It is proposed that understanding and managing the MDA can support both individuals and organisations in achieving their goals in good psychological health, through the development and implementation of informed, evidence-based, best practice strategies.

show abstract

Working with sex offenders: the impact on Australian treatment providers

Cited by 42 publications

References 42 publications

On the Lived Experience of Sex Offenders’ Therapists: Their Perceptions of Intrapersonal and Interpersonal Consequences and Patterns of Coping

On the Lived Experience of Sex Offenders’ Therapists: Their Perceptions of Intrapersonal and Interpersonal Consequences and Patterns of Coping

The protective role of compassion satisfaction for therapists who work with sexual violence survivors: an application of the broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions

Working with sex offenders: Best practice in enhancing practitioner resilience

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About