Understanding the Emotional Impact and Coping Strategies of Professionals Working with Domestic Violence Victims
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Method
2.2. Participants
2.3. Instruments
2.4. Procedures
2.5. Data Collection
2.6. Data Transcription and Analysis
3. Results
3.1. The Impact of Intervention on DV Victims
3.1.1. Difficulty in Disengaging from Work
Disconnecting is very difficult … I don’t think we managed to get to the end of the day and turn off the switch!(P3).
It often becomes inevitable to bring work home … it is inevitable to ruminate many times on what I can still do tomorrow … and therefore, we end up thinking too much about some cases that are corroding us.(P24).
Sometimes we’re laying our head on the pillow and an idea comes, and another idea comes … and we have to put them in their place, we have to arrange them properly, but as we know, it comes back!(P19).
3.1.2. Concern and Anxiety
Especially in this situation where he has a gun and he shoots at the victim’s car and she continues to live with him … I worry!(P13).
Things are being done with this fear that something will happen to that victim, and with the fear that the victim may not understand us and that may not realize that we are there to help.(P2).
Somehow an anxiety of the day after wanting to know how things are, whether they have improved, whether they have worsened, especially in those more serious cases, in which the victim returns home and in which we know that she is at high risk.(P3).
And in the most serious situations, you thought that something was going to happen, and then you might not even be able to sleep …(P2).
My essential rest doesn’t happen, and because I didn’t solve the problem with the phone call, I already know I’m going to bed and I’m going to have a dream or two about it … it happens to me a lot …(P24).
3.1.3. Frustration and Disappointment
I believe that frustration is likely one of the foremost consequences for anyone engaged in victim support …(P18).
… dealing with frustration becomes challenging when the victim’s decisions deviate from what the professional expected.(P20).
3.1.4. Difficulties in Emotional Regulation
I already felt some lack of capacity to deal with this personal fragility, I felt very small and sometimes with difficulty in managing it … it was, in fact, an emotional overload … sometimes the stories are impactful and disturb us …(P5).
3.1.5. Fatigue and Emotional Exhaustion
Right now, I am aware that I am effectively tired, exhausted, and without the ability to properly respond …(P24).
Of course, you get to the end of a week and you’re really tired, physically and emotionally because I think that emotional and mental tiredness can often overtake the physical.(P13).
The impact can be brutal… indeed it can! Most people I know often experience burnout, have anxiety attacks, have clinical situations, depressive conditions that result from the demands of this work …(P20).
So many demands, so much anguish for the professional who wants to give an answer and often doesn’t have one … it obviously causes the professional to feel emotional exhaustion, a physical and mental fatigue that is so famously spoken of as burnout …(P24).
This means that it is a exhaustion that is great enough for, after a few years, people to look for another area.(P24).
Families are often the ones who pay, it’s the intimate relationships we have … They pay with our absence, with our emotional unavailability, with our unwillingness to do things … we are so tired that we don’t even want to leave the house, we don’t feel like doing anything …(P24).
3.2. Coping Strategies to Manage the Adverse Impact
3.2.1. Theoretical and Practical Knowledge
I also invest a lot in training to acquire knowledge about how things really should be done and the updates that also exist … from that moment on that also makes me calmer!(P16).
We must be aware of this, we have to be very rational and very technical, we have to have a very strong technical base here … I think that theory saves us, I usually say this to colleagues and even the interns, that the better our technique, the more relaxed we are with the decisions we make …(P20).
I think that theory saves us, especially when emotions are very intense … it helps us to take a step back and act with a certain detachment.(P7).
Professional practice brings us another type of knowledge that one does not have in the first years of service, and therefore, often this lack of practical skills from acquired experience, from know-how, is sorely needed to deal with the adverse impact!(P24).
… I think that over time I also learned and found strategies to get along, and I think I already get along positively … the experience was useful, these 18 years helped …(P21).
3.2.2. Setting Boundaries
When the door closes, I switch it off. I don’t take things outside, and here I respond to them professionally, you know? Objectively, I don’t let it interfere. I block any way that interferes with my personal life.(P14).
Emotional detachment… I think it’s the competence I have, which is total detachment from that situation. That situation belongs to that person, and therefore, I will see it as being that person’s, not mine …(P1).
I have a strategy here… I can think about work up to a certain point, but from then on I always try to contradict the thoughts!(P6).
… I always do that, I get home and I have a ritual … I take a shower thinking about it all, then I think ‘Now it’s over! Now you are going to hang up!’ I try to do that; it doesn’t always happen and it’s not always easy …(P13).
3.2.3. Self-Care
This has been a very important strategy … at the end of the day, doing one hour of physical activity. I notice that it is something that helps me a lot and that helps me to switch off and also to make the bridge between the end of the time for work and the beginning of life and personal dynamics!(P16).
The family is an important support here, isn’t it, it’s where I take refuge and where I have a safe place …(P20).
It’s not easy … I try to vent the situation to someone I trust, even if it’s just venting … sometimes I don’t even need to hear an answer, by being able to externalize this overload I already feel lighter!(P5).
3.2.4. Self-Monitoring
So it has happened that I feel very tired … when I start to experience levels of irritation that disturb, for example, the way I interact with people, I usually take breaks.(P6).
3.2.5. Debriefing with Colleagues
What I do to deal with these emotions … I often resort to sharing with colleagues, and in those situations, I think it helps a lot …(P19).
As we have the 3 DV workers in my office, we are talking among ourselves, we are venting some situations here and that’s it alleviating … we are exchanging ideas here which helps … the fact that we have someone in the same area with whom we can exchange some ideas help a lot to manage these heavy situations!(P22).
4. Discussion
5. Conclusions
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Sociodemographic Characteristic | N | % |
---|---|---|
Gender | ||
Female | 22 | 91.7 |
Male | 2 | 8.3 |
Highest educational level | ||
Bachelor’s degree | 13 | 54.2 |
Master’s degree | 9 | 37.5 |
PhD degree | 2 | 8.3 |
Training area | ||
Education | 2 | 8.3 |
Social/Educational service | 7 | 29.2 |
Nursing | 1 | 4.2 |
Criminology | 1 | 4.2 |
Psychology | 10 | 41.6 |
Sociology | 3 | 12.5 |
Years worked in domestic violence (mean = 8.7; SD = 6.1) | ||
2–5 years | 11 | 45.83 |
6–10 years | 6 | 25 |
11–15 years | 4 | 16.67 |
>16 years | 3 | 12.5 |
Age (in years): Mean = 42.6; SD = 7.9; Range: 26–60 | - | - |
Highest Educational Level | Training Area | DV Support Agency | Years Worked in DV | |
---|---|---|---|---|
P1 | Bachelor | Social/Educational service | CPCJ | 4 |
P2 | Bachelor | Sociology | CPCJ | 14 |
P3 | Master | Criminology | CPCJ | 9 |
P4 | Bachelor | Psychology | CPCJ | 8 |
P5 | Master | Education | CPCJ | 5 |
P6 | Bachelor | Social/Educational service | CPCJ | 2 |
P7 | Bachelor | Psychology | CPCJ | 6 |
P8 | Bachelor | Social/Educational service | CPCJ | 4 |
P9 | Bachelor | Social/Educational service | CPCJ | 4 |
P10 | Bachelor | Social/Educational service | CPCJ | 23 |
P11 | Master | Nursing | CPCJ | 9 |
P12 | Bachelor | Education | CPCJ | 6 |
P13 | Bachelor | Social/Educational service | RNAAVD | 4 |
P14 | PhD | Psychology | RNAAVD | 5 |
P15 | PhD | Sociology | RNAAVD | 3 |
P16 | Master | Psychology | RNAAVD | 4 |
P17 | Bachelor | Sociology | RNAAVD | 16 |
P18 | Bachelor | Psychology | RNAAVD | 15 |
P19 | Master | Psychology | RNAAVD | 4 |
P20 | Master | Psychology | RNAAVD | 20 |
P21 | Master | Psychology | RNAAVD | 18 |
P22 | Master | Psychology | RNAAVD | 8 |
P23 | Bachelor | Social/Educational service | RNAAVD | 3 |
P24 | Master | Psychology | RNAAVD | 14 |
Theme | Subtheme | N |
---|---|---|
The impact of intervention with DV victims | Difficulty in disengaging from work | 21 |
concern and anxiety | 20 | |
Frustration and disappointment | 18 | |
Difficulties in emotional regulation | 17 | |
Fatigue and emotional exhaustion | 13 | |
Coping strategies to manage the adverse impact | Theoretical and practical knowledge | 24 |
Setting boundaries | 23 | |
Self-care | 18 | |
Self-monitoring | 12 | |
Debriefing with colleagues | 12 |
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Ferreira, E.; Figueiredo, A.S.; Santos, A. Understanding the Emotional Impact and Coping Strategies of Professionals Working with Domestic Violence Victims. Soc. Sci. 2023, 12, 525. https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci12090525
Ferreira E, Figueiredo AS, Santos A. Understanding the Emotional Impact and Coping Strategies of Professionals Working with Domestic Violence Victims. Social Sciences. 2023; 12(9):525. https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci12090525
Chicago/Turabian StyleFerreira, Elisabete, Ana Sofia Figueiredo, and Anita Santos. 2023. "Understanding the Emotional Impact and Coping Strategies of Professionals Working with Domestic Violence Victims" Social Sciences 12, no. 9: 525. https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci12090525