Perceptions of social work professionals with regards to the prevalence of vicarious trauma among social workers in the child welfare field

Project (M.S.W., Social Work) -- California State University, Sacramento, 2011.Isabel Ulloa Ott and Julaine Rose contributed equally to the overall planning, research, compiling of data, writing, and editing of this project. The purpose of this project was to examine the perceptions of social workers on vicarious trauma among child welfare social workers in Sacramento and Solano counties. Thirty-five participants voluntarily agreed to complete an online questionnaire on the topic. Study findings indicate that stress and symptoms of vicarious trauma are perceived by professional social workers to be highly prevalent among child welfare workers. Social workers reported observing specific symptoms such as fatigue, anxiety, headaches, irritability, decreased work performance and having learned of symptoms such as insomnia, digestive issues, nightmares and aggression. An important finding was the abysmal lack of training and resources for managing vicarious traumatization among social workers. Trauma-specific education may diminish the potential of vicarious trauma and reduce worker turn-over thus preventing drain of well trained child worker professionals. This is particularly relevant in the resource constraint environment such as the currently prevailing circumstances in California where the Child Protection System has lost many social workers??? positions due to budget cuts.Social Wor