The Impact of Vicarious Trauma On Forensic Interviewing Professionals

Purpose: In an effort to implement and sustain quality services to children experiencing trauma, human service organizations that employ forensic interviewers commonly face workforce-related challenges, specifically in regards to workforce capacity. Challenges such as extremely high caseload ratios, work absences, and rates of turnover are due, in large part, to the vicarious traumatization forensic interviewers experience from having a job that consists solely of interviewing child victims regarding traumatic and violent crimes. Vicarious trauma is an occupational health hazard that impacts an already inadequate distribution of credentialed interviewing professionals and severely limits quality service delivery to those in need of child trauma services. In spite of this, minimal research has been conducted to explore the impact of vicarious trauma on forensic interviewers.

Methods: This qualitative study utilized an emergent, phenomenological design (Patton, 2002) to better understand the context within which forensic interviewers experience, and are impacted by vicarious trauma. The sample includes social workers and law enforcement personnel who conduct forensic interviews with child sexual assault victims. A purposeful, representative sample (n=9) of forensic interviewing professionals participated in semi-structured interviews regarding their perceptions of vicarious trauma as it relates to their job as forensic interviewers. All interviews were audio taped. Interviews were transcribed, cleaned, and loaded on to ATLAS.ti for analysis. The constant comparative method (Lincoln & Guba, 1985) was applied throughout analysis.

Results: Forensic interviewers report three realms within which they experience vicarious trauma: 1) during the interview, 2) engaging with colleagues outside the interview setting, and 3) family life/life outside of work. Within each of these three overarching code families, forensic interviewers identify four specific elements of vicarious trauma: triggers, coping responses, cognitive dissonance, and syncretism. These themes coalesce into a dynamic model that depicts a continuum of coping responses to vicarious trauma, as moderated by the forensic interviewer's baseline psychological capital.

Implications for Practice: Findings indicate a need for human services organizations to develop and expand support services, resources, and training on vicarious trauma for forensic interviewers. The paper describes how human service organizations can apply the dynamic model to bolster workforce capacity, and support and retain trained forensic interviewing professionals. Future areas for further research on vicarious trauma are also discussed.