Secondary Trauma in Children and School Personnel

Abstract

A review of childhood secondary trauma is presented. Secondary trauma involves the transfer and acquisition of negative affective and dysfunctional cognitive states due to prolonged and extended contact with others, such as family members, who have been traumatized. As such, secondary trauma refers to a spread of trauma reactions from the victim to those who have close contact with the traumatized individual. Children can acquire secondary trauma reactions from parents who have PTSD. School mental health workers and teachers might also acquire secondary trauma reactions from the children with whom they work. It is claimed by some that exposure to intense video presentations of traumatic events can also lead to secondary traumatization especially when viewed by children. Assessment devices are reviewed and most of these appear to be designed to assess secondary or vicarious traumatization in therapists rather than in the general population of adults. The majority of scales lack cutoff scores and this is a significant weakness. The modified Stroop procedure is presented as non–paper-and-pencil method of assessing secondary trauma reactions. The evaluation of the efficacy of therapeutic interventions for secondary traumatization is nearly nonexistent. Systematic studies of secondary trauma are in their infancy and a good deal of further research is needed.

KEYWORDS:

• secondary trauma
• vicarious trauma
• secondary traumatization
• Stroop procedure
• observational learning