Is helping helpful?
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Is helping helpful? What impact does working with traumatised individuals have on psychological therapists and what are the contributing factors?
IRAS ID
204407
Contact name
Catherine Corker
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Leeds
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 2 months, 13 days
Research summary
It is indicated that working within the helping professions can have an impact on the psychological well-being of clinician’s (McCann & Pearlman, 1990). Much of the research to date has focused on the negative impact of working within the helping professions (Figley, 1995; McCann & Pearlman, 1990). A shift in perspective has been suggested and more recently there has been acknowledgement of the beneficial effects (Radey & Figley, 2007).
The proposed study will investigate the psychological well-being of psychological therapists working with individuals presenting with trauma; both the positive and negative effects will be investigated. In addition, the relationship between compassion satisfaction, compassion fatigue and burnout and client factors, clinician factors and work factors will be investigated. Participants will be asked how many clients they work with who present with complex trauma (client factor), to complete a measure of self-reported resilience (clinician factor) and to complete a measure of the supervisory relationship (work factor).
The proposed study will add to the research base on the impact of working with traumatised individuals and will be clinically useful for health professionals, clinical supervisors and service managers.REC name
N/A
REC reference
N/A