| Summary: | Thesis (Ph.D.(Psychology))--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Humanities, 2013. === The research entailed a comprehensive study of vicarious trauma in short-term insurance claims
workers, compared to trauma counsellors and a control group of holiday booking consultants. A
well-known, comprehensive model of compassion fatigue/secondary traumatic stress, developed for
therapists formed the basis of the study. The research attempted to determine whether this model
can be applied more widely to include administrative populations exposed to traumatised clients on
a regular basis. To this end, the model was deconstructed into its eleven constituent parts and each
element was investigated in addition to other variables of interest to the study. This was done to
determine the importance and applicability of each model element and other selected variables to
the administrative context.
A mixed methods approach was utilised, which combined quantitative and qualitative data. The
results yielded by the study were collectively utilised to construct an etic and an emic voice from
the research. At the same time, effects from vicarious trauma were considered from an overarching
bio-psychosocial stance, systematically gauging effects on various levels of functioning. Scores
from quantitative measures on secondary traumatic stress, negative cognitive schemas, empathy,
social support and compassion satisfaction were statistically analysed, which revealed significant
differences between the worker groups. Widely accepted relationships between the study variables
were tested and found to hold true within and across groups. Regression analysis determined the
roles of empathy, social support and compassion satisfaction in vicarious trauma, as measured by
secondary traumatic stress and negative cognitive schemas. In addition, constructivist selfdevelopment
theory was employed to interpret the negative cognitive effects from vicarious
traumatisation.
Qualitative data were utilised to further elucidate the role and nature of vicarious trauma in each of
the worker groups. The themes of exposure to client suffering, detachment, level of empathic
engagement, personal trauma history and difficult life demands were unearthed from the qualitative
data, which illuminated the importance and role of each of these elements to claims workers. Other
areas of interest, being utilisation of sick-leave as a means to cope, work-related illness, attitudes
towards professional counselling, feelings evoked by traumatised clients, and the language utilised
by workers in response to client traumata were investigated. Further effects on participants as well
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as effects that reach beyond the person were identified and examined. Effects on the social and
work contexts were also elucidated.
Finally, interesting themes that emerged spontaneously from the data were considered. The
consideration of the various model elements and other areas of interest systematically revealed that
administrative workers dealing with traumatised clients are also affected by the process of vicarious
trauma. Furthermore, the model was found to be largely suitable to the context of claims workers.
However, the model was expanded to augment its usability within the more general administrative
domain. Finally, the overarching aim was to enrich, contextualise and elaborate on the experiences
of claims workers within their unique work context, to facilitate insight and a deeper understanding
of vicarious trauma in more administrative populations that have largely been overlooked in
research.
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