Attitudes of Future Human Service Professionals: The Effects of Victim and Helper Qualities

Abstract

The authors determined the effects of the qualities of trauma victims (ethnic background, level of trauma, level of adaptation) and of helpers (gender, type of education, field of study) on the attitudes of future members of human service professions (law, medicine, nursing, social sciences, law enforcement) toward the victims. The respondents read 6 descriptions of a fictitious victim and rated their general attitudes toward the victim described. The high-trauma and poorly adapted victims elicited more negative attitudes than did the low-trauma and well-adapted victims. The male respondents and those from vocational institutions had more negative attitudes toward the victims. The female respondents and those from the university expressed more positive attitudes. The future police officers and legal professionals tended to have more negative attitudes toward the victims than did the future medical and social care professionals. The findings did not support the assumption that the participants would hold more negative attitudes toward other-ethnic than toward same-ethnic victims.

Key Words:

• adaptation
• education
• ethnic background
• gender
• helper qualities
• trauma
• type of education
• victim qualities