The Effect of Trauma Intervention Training on the Professional Development of Professionals Working with Children
Project no. 32333 · Status: Kapanmış (Yayın bekleniyor) · 2024
Summary
<p>Trauma can be defined as adverse or destructive experiences that challenge individuals' psychological resilience and often lead to lasting impacts. Traumatic events experienced particularly during childhood play a critical role in shaping an individual’s cognitive, emotional, and social development. Therefore, professionals working with traumatized children must be equipped with adequate knowledge and skills to effectively mitigate the effects of trauma. In this context, the “Trauma Intervention Training” program developed for this study was designed to enhance professionals’ capacity to respond more effectively to trauma-related situations. <strong>Objective: </strong>The aim of this research is to examine the impact of the training program developed for specialists working with children who have experienced trauma on compassion fatigue, secondary traumatic stress levels, trauma intervention skills, and awareness toward victims. <strong>Method: </strong>A mixed-methods design was adopted in this study. The quantitative component employed a quasi-experimental pretest-posttest design, while the qualitative component included focus group interviews. Participants were evaluated in terms of cognitive and emotional trauma intervention competencies, secondary traumatic stress responses, compassion fatigue, as well as biases, stereotypes, and levels of awareness toward victims. <strong>Findings: </strong>Following the training, a statistically significant decrease in compassion fatigue levels among the specialists was observed, alongside notable improvements in trauma-related cognitive and emotional intervention skills. In addition, there was an increase in awareness toward victims, and significant reductions were found in the subdimensions of secondary traumatic stress, including avoidance, emotional intrusion, and hyperarousal. However, no significant changes were observed in biases and stereotypical beliefs toward victims. <strong>Conclusion: </strong>It was concluded that short-term trauma-focused trainings significantly improve professionals’ intervention competencies and levels of awareness. Nonetheless, for the transformation of deeper cognitive structures such as prejudices and stereotypical thinking patterns, there is a need for long-term, practice-based, and supervision-supported training programs.</p><p><strong>Keywords</strong>: Trauma, trauma intervention training, compassion fatigue, victim awareness</p><p><strong><em>The study was supported by Ege University BAP Unit. </em></strong></p>