Efficacy of Self-Care and Traditional Mental Health Counseling in Treating Vicarious Traumatization Among Counselors of Hurricane Katrina Survivors

<p>The population consisted of 9,000 Gulf Coast Licensed Professional Counselors. Surveys were returned by 609 participants. In the researcher-developed demographic survey, 586 individuals responded to the questions regarding age, gender, ethnicity, and years of counseling experience; 585 individuals responded to questions about exposure to prior trauma, and personal Katrina-related losses; 578 individuals responded to the question about the percentage of their work week that was spent counseling victims, and 579 individuals responded to questions regarding the type of mental health care strategy they participated in. There were 439 usable surveys for the <em>PTSD Checklist-Civilian Version (PCL-C) </em>(Weathers, Litz, Huska, & Keane, 1994) and 448 for the <em>Compassion Fatigue Subscale</em> of <em>The</em> <em>Compassion Fatigue and Satisfaction Self-Test for Helpers</em> (Figley & Stamm, 1996).<em></em></p> <p><em>The PTSD Checklist-Civilian Version (PCL-C)</em> (Weathers, Litz, Huska, & Keane, 1994) was utilized to evaluate Gulf Coast Licensed Professional Counselors for vicarious traumatization within the first year of working with Hurricane Katrina survivors. A total score of 30 or above on the <em>PCL-C</em> is required to meet criteria for PTSD. A total of 32.1% of respondents (141 individuals) scored 30 or above- criteria for vicarious traumatization. Respondents were evaluated for current compassion fatigue symptoms using the <em>Compassion Fatigue</em>. A score of 36-40 indicates high risk for compassion fatigue and a score of 41 and above indicates an extremely high risk for compassion fatigue. When the participants were evaluated based on their symptoms 5 years after Hurricane Katrina, 5.1% scored 36 or above, indicating high or extremely high risk for compassion fatigue.</p> <p>The strategies examined were traditional clinical psychotherapy (individual, group, couples or family) and non-clinical self-care (prayer, meditation, exercise, yoga, engaging in pleasurable activities). The relationship between these types of mental health care and <em>CFS </em>scores were examined, and the results indicated that participation in traditional mental health counseling is associated with lower <em>CFS</em> scores, which indicate a lower risk for compassion fatigue, and participation in non-clinical self-care is also associated with lower <em>CFS</em> scores, which indicates a lower risk for compassion fatigue; however, participation in traditional mental health counseling is more strongly associated with lower <em>CFS </em>scores than non-clinical self-care.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Educational Leadership, Counseling, and Foundations

Year

2012

Author dc:creator

• Many, Mary Alice

Contributors dc:contributor

• Dr. Barbara Herlihy
• Dr. Claire Thoreson
• Dr. Zarus Watson

• Louisiana
• Compassion Fatigue
• Trauma
• Psychotherapy
• Clinical Psychology
• Counseling Psychology
• Other Social and Behavioral Sciences
• Social Work

Repository record dc:identifier

https://scholarworks.uno.edu/td/1463

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:scholarworks.uno.edu:td-2472