Prevalence and risk-factors for burnout, posttraumatic stress, and secondary traumatization among Danish prosecutors: findings from a pilot-study

ABSTRACT

International research has documented that prosecutors and lawyers are at increased risk of reporting symptoms of internalizing mental health disorders. Much existing research is based on small convenience samples and no studies have hitherto been conducted among Danish prosecutors. EU estimates indicate that Denmark reports among the highest number of legal cases while simultaneously figuring among the countries with the lowest governmental expenditures on courts of law. The aim of this study was to estimate the occurrence of burnout, secondary traumatization, and posttraumatic stress disorder among Danish prosecutors. Additionally, we aimed to study the relationship between these outcomes perceived work-environment and stressors at work, as well as different coping strategies in handing emotionally demanding cases at work. A nation-wide online survey was distributed to all attorneys in Denmark. A total on N = 233 participated, corresponding to a participation rate of 39%. Findings indicated that burnout was the most important concern among Danish prosecutors compared to rates of secondary traumatization and PTSD that were generally low. Quantitative demands, abusive behavior from professional counterparts and emotional impact from cases were the main correlates of burnout symptoms.

KEYWORDS:

• Prosecutor
• burnout
• PTSD
• secondary traumatization
• abusive behavior

Acknowledgement

The authors wish to thank the Danish Attorney General’s office for Education and Development for their assistance in distributing the survey and computing participation rates.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Ethical approval

The governing body of scientific ethics (Regional Ethics Committee for Scientific Studies Region Southern Denmark) does not require surveys based on informed consent such as the present study to be formally evaluated: https://komite.regionsyddanmark.dk/i-tvivl-om-anmeldelse.

Data availability statement

Data from the current study is available upon reasonable request via contact to the corresponding author.

Additional information

Funding

Following the completion of this study, [blinded for peer-review] has received funding from the Danish Attorney General’s Office for a research project based on findings from the current study. Jesper Pihl-Thingvad is cordially funded by a career research grant from the Region of Southern Denmark.