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The aftermath of victimization: Rebuilding shattered assumptions
... How could I have been done on this?." Such negative selfdirected attributions may contribute to poorer emotional adjustment following victimization, and lead to perceived or actual isolation for victims (Barnett et al., 1996;Janoff-Bulman, 1985). A sense of isolation was apparent for some participants. ...
... (Ms G) In the above extract, Ms G is discussing her personal conversations and emails being accessed and shared through her personal and professional networks. The loss of control over what information is shared and what is held private, was particularly distressing, as it represented an imposition on her autonomy and reduced her sense of agency (Figley, 1985;Janoff-Bulman, 1985). Ms G went on to acknowledge the implications of being hacked on her relationship to the internet and her social world. ...
... Certainly a great deal of the cybercrime literature emphasizes the roles of the victims in their own victimization (Jansen & Leukfeldt, 2016;van de Weijer & Leukfeldt, 2017), but also recognizes that such emphasis can hinder their emotional coping (Jansen & Leukfeldt, 2018). Selfblame may be maladaptive if victimization is attributed to characterological (personality) traits such as being "dumb" or "too trusting" rather than behaviors such as forgetting to lock the front door (Janoff-Bulman, 1985). For example, when discussing the emotional impact of the hacking event, Mr C was visibly tearful as he voiced a sense of personal responsibility stating "I've let my family down." ...
Cybercrime has rapidly grown in prevalence and potential for harm and disruption for victims. Studies have examined the adverse psychological impact of cybercrime for victims; however, the specific effects for victims of hacking are unexplored. The present study aimed to investigate the psychological impacts of hacking victimization through exploration of the experience of victims of hacking. The study employed an in-depth phenomenological approach to explore the experiences of 11 victims of hacking. Semi-structured interviews were used as a tool for data collection, and thematic analysis of the data revealed four main themes: emotional impact; an increased sense of vulnerability; a sense of violation; and coping strategies. The findings highlight that hacking may have significant consequences for victims, and further, that hacking may represent an intrusion into a victim’s “digital space.” Recommendations are discussed for providing support to victims through measures aimed at increasing victim’s self-efficacy, sense of control over their digital environment, and increasing community awareness about the potential adverse impacts for victims of hacking.
... Specifically, world assumptions theory purports that people who experience trauma may respond to those events by modifying their core beliefs about the world being a safe, benevolent, and generally predictable place (Janoff-Bulman, 1989). It stems from the theory of shattered assumptions (Janoff-Bulman, 1985), which suggests that traumatic events may result in shattering a person's positive beliefs about the self and the world, resulting in pathology (Janoff-Bulman, 1985, 2010. Specifically, Janoff-Bulman (1985) suggested that these beliefs can be broken into three primary categories: (a) benevolence of the world (i.e., the belief that the world is a good place and the people in it are good), (b) meaningfulness of the world (i.e., the belief that we get what we put out into the world), and (c) worthiness of self (i.e., perception of self, ability to control outcomes, and the belief in luck). ...
... Specifically, world assumptions theory purports that people who experience trauma may respond to those events by modifying their core beliefs about the world being a safe, benevolent, and generally predictable place (Janoff-Bulman, 1989). It stems from the theory of shattered assumptions (Janoff-Bulman, 1985), which suggests that traumatic events may result in shattering a person's positive beliefs about the self and the world, resulting in pathology (Janoff-Bulman, 1985, 2010. Specifically, Janoff-Bulman (1985) suggested that these beliefs can be broken into three primary categories: (a) benevolence of the world (i.e., the belief that the world is a good place and the people in it are good), (b) meaningfulness of the world (i.e., the belief that we get what we put out into the world), and (c) worthiness of self (i.e., perception of self, ability to control outcomes, and the belief in luck). ...
... It stems from the theory of shattered assumptions (Janoff-Bulman, 1985), which suggests that traumatic events may result in shattering a person's positive beliefs about the self and the world, resulting in pathology (Janoff-Bulman, 1985, 2010. Specifically, Janoff-Bulman (1985) suggested that these beliefs can be broken into three primary categories: (a) benevolence of the world (i.e., the belief that the world is a good place and the people in it are good), (b) meaningfulness of the world (i.e., the belief that we get what we put out into the world), and (c) worthiness of self (i.e., perception of self, ability to control outcomes, and the belief in luck). World assumptions theory purports that after experiencing a traumatic event, people are faced with the cognitive dilemma of integrating information gained from the traumatic event that is incongruent with their existing assumptions about their sense of safety and goodness in the world (Janoff-Bulman, 1985). ...
Objective:
The World Assumptions Questionnaire (WAQ) was developed to assess optimism and assumptions about the world, which often shift after traumatic events. However, no known study has investigated whether the WAQ holds similar meaning across demographic groups. The objective of this study was to investigate measurement invariance of the WAQ across race/ethnic group, sex, and sexual orientation.
Method:
Participants consisted of 1,181 college students (75% female; 25% Black, 13% Latinx, 18% Asian, 45% White; 90% heterosexual) who completed an online survey on stress, personality, substance use, and mental health. We investigated a unidimensional and the 4-factor structure of the WAQ using confirmatory factor analysis, and configural, metric, and scalar invariance using multigroup confirmatory factor analysis.
Results:
After dropping 3 items, a 4-factor structure fit the data well (comparative fit index = .92; root mean square error of approximation =.05; 95% confidence interval [.045, .054]; standardized root mean square residual = .06). Mean WAQ scores were higher for participants with probable posttraumatic stress disorder on 2 of the 4 factors. We also identified multiple items that were not invariant across race/ethnic group, sex, and sexual orientation. However, after invariant items were removed, evidence of configural, scalar, and metric invariance was found.
Conclusions:
This study replicated the 4-factor structure, mapping onto the 4 WAQ subscales, and indicated that a unidimensional measure of world assumptions should not be used. After making the adjustments recommended herein, the WAQ can be used to investigate differences across race/ethnic group, sex, and sexual orientation. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).
... Their assumptions are therefore shattered, resulting in psychological reactions such as anxiety, fear, sleep disturbance, and helplessness. Relatively mild victimizations, such as burglary and robbery, can lead to severe suffering and disruption of victims' lives (Janoff-Bulman, 1985). Although reactions of individual victims differ, their psychological reactions often resemble each other (Janoff-Bulman & Frieze, 1983). ...
... The first assumption is the belief in personal invulnerability. This entails that people generally underestimate the chance of bad things, such as crime victimization, happening to them (Janoff-Bulman, 1985). This belief ensures that people do not live under constant anxiety, fear, and perceived threats of misfortune. ...
... Crime in general can be particularly distressing when victimization is human-induced because the victim was deliberately damaged by another human being (Janoff-Bulman, 1985). After that, the world can seem like a threatening place with other people who cannot be trusted, which can lead to severe psychological effects. ...
While criminality is digitizing, a theory-based understanding of the impact of cybercrime on victims is lacking. Therefore, this study addresses the psychological and financial impact of cybercrime on victims, applying the shattered assumptions theory (SAT) to predict that impact. A secondary analysis was performed on a representative data set of Dutch citizens (N = 33,702), exploring the psychological and financial impact for different groups of cybercrime victims. The results showed a higher negative impact on emotional well-being for victims of person-centered cybercrime, victims for whom the offender was an acquaintance, and victims whose financial loss was not compensated and a lower negative impact on emotional well-being for victims with a higher income. The study led to novel scientific insights and showed the applicability of the SAT for developing hypotheses about cybercrime victimization impact. In this study, most hypotheses had to be rejected, leading to the conclusion that more work has to be done to test the applicability of the SAT in the field of cybercrime. Furthermore, policy implications were identified considering the prioritization of and approach to specific cybercrimes, treatment of victims, and financial loss compensation.
... These world views are shattered following extreme negative trauma exposure, as persons may feel that the old securities are no longer relevant, i.e., the trauma cannot be understood in the context of previous assumptions, such as the "world is safe" (Janoff-Bulman 1999). According to Janoff-Bulman (1985), the shattering of these previous assumptions capsizes our sense of stability, ultimately leading to "equilibrium loss" (p. 18), or disequilibrium (p. ...
... 22). One may not consciously be aware that assumptions have been shattered, rather one may feel the world suddenly "being out of whack" and that "things no longer work the way they used to" (Bard and Sangrey 1979, p. 14; see also Janoff-Bulman 1985). Trauma symptoms are viewed as an attempt to rebuild assumptions in order to restore equilibrium (Janoff-Bulman 2010). ...
... Accordingly, a potential result showing that persons with ASD symptoms over-endorse the previously obtained "Heads" outcome (Tversky and Kahneman 1974;Kahneman 2003), would be aligned with this notion of such persons with ASD feeling disequilibrium (Janoff-Bulman 1985, 2010. It is important to note, that similar to the typical gambling fallacy (responding "Tails") which stems from a system 1 automatic response driven by the belief in equilibrium restoration (Tversky and Kahneman 1971), the reverse gambling fallacy bias ("Heads") is equally irrational and also stems from a system 1 automatic response driven by a belief that equilibrium will not currently be restored, i.e., disequilibrium. ...
Background
Rationality biases, such as the gambling fallacy (e.g., predicting future coin-tosses based on previous tosses) and the famous “Linda” conjunction fallacy (estimating the conjunction that “Linda” is both teller and feminist based on her description) have not been examined in people suffering from acute stress disorder (ASD). We analyze potential outcomes and align them with different theories.
Methods
To discern the precise pattern of rationality biases in persons with ASD, we examined performance on these 2 tasks within a month of the Hayian Super-Typhoon (August 27th, 2013). Out of a sample of 1001 persons, 82 had clinical ASD and their performance was compared to the remaining 919 participants.
Results
A specific link between ASD and rationality biases revealed that although conjunction task performance was not associated with ASD diagnosis, coin-task performance was. Namely, responding “Heads” to a 6th coin-toss after 5 successive “Heads” (reverse gambling fallacy) was robustly linked with ASD diagnosis.
Conclusion
The results align with the bridging of trauma theories claiming that trauma symptoms are generated by disequilibrium following trauma exposure, with prospect theory’s notion of chance, which is conceived as belief in equilibrium restoration. Such disequilibrium following trauma exposure is thus linked with the belief underlying reverse gambling fallacy biases, namely “what-was-will-be”. Implications regarding themes important to address in therapy are mentioned.
... National epidemiological data suggest that between 51% and 77% of adults have experienced a traumatic event in their lifetime (Smith & Cottler, 2018). Experiencing a traumatic event may result in changes in beliefs about the safety of the world (i.e., world assumptions), which has been associated with risk for psychopathology, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD;Bruggen et al., 2018;Janoff-Bulman, 1985;Schuler & Boals, 2016). The process of adjusting beliefs after a traumatic event has been described in the theory of shattered assumptions in which a traumatic event disturbs a person's positive beliefs about the self and the world (Janoff-Bulman, 1985). ...
... Experiencing a traumatic event may result in changes in beliefs about the safety of the world (i.e., world assumptions), which has been associated with risk for psychopathology, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD;Bruggen et al., 2018;Janoff-Bulman, 1985;Schuler & Boals, 2016). The process of adjusting beliefs after a traumatic event has been described in the theory of shattered assumptions in which a traumatic event disturbs a person's positive beliefs about the self and the world (Janoff-Bulman, 1985). World assumptions theory suggests that the development of PTSD is influenced by the integration of the new information learned from the traumatic event with existing knowledge about the world (Janoff-Bulman, 1989). ...
The theory of shattered assumptions proposes that experiencing traumatic events can change how people view themselves and the world. Most adults experience a traumatic event during their lifetime, and some subsequently develop post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). However, the current conceptualization of trauma (i.e., Criterion A PTSD) may be too narrow to adequately capture the range of potentially traumatizing events that People of Color experience, including racial discrimination and neighborhood disadvantage. This study investigated the association of racial discrimination and neighborhood disadvantage with core beliefs about the world being safe and predictable (i.e., world assumptions) among a sample of Black, Latine, and Asian young adults. Multi-step analyses of covariance tested associations between racial discrimination and neighborhood disadvantage with world assumptions and whether these held in the context of other traumatic exposures. Results indicated that racial discrimination negatively impacted world assumptions among Asian young adults only and this effect remained in the context of trauma. In addition, low neighborhood support negatively impacted world assumptions across all racial groups and neighborhood violence negatively impacted world assumptions among Latine young adults only; however, this effect did not remain in the context of trauma. This study indicates it is worthwhile to consider other adverse events in the conceptualization of trauma, such as racial discrimination and neighborhood disadvantage, that may impact world assumptions and contribute to subsequent post-trauma psychopathology.
... A significant body of work has examined the existential implications of trauma, due to its potential impact on basic beliefs and orientations towards the self and world. For example, Janoff-Bulman (1985) suggests that the experience of trauma erodes basic meaning-related assumptions, namely that the world is a good/safe place and that the self has worth within it (see also, Tolstikova et al., 2005 ). This may trigger sense-making efforts and potentially a search for meaning in the event itself, the success of which has important implications for psychological health ( Janoff-Bulman, 1992 ) and more global judgments of meaning ( Park, 2010 ). ...
... Multiple studies have demonstrated that meaning-making predicts better recovery from these events ( Maffly-Kipp et al., 2021 ;Park, 2021 ;Updegraff et al., 2008 ), so the discovery of factors that might facilitate this process, like free will beliefs, is a novel contribution. If worldview-dissonant traumas trigger accommodative efforts ( Janoff-Bulman, 1985 ;Schwartzberg and Janoff-Bulman, 1991 ), then it is perhaps unsurprising that pre-existing beliefs about one's ability to freely navigate themselves throughout the world would relate to this process. Indeed, this is consistent with Park (2010) model of meaning-making, which suggests that the interplay between stressful experiences, situ-ational meaning-making, and global beliefs/meaning is an interactive and ongoing process by which people create and update their worldviews. ...
Meaning-making is an important component in the psychological recovery from collective traumas. However, not enough is known about what individual differences might facilitate meaning-oriented approaches to coping and recovering from traumas. We predicted that free will beliefs, which afford people the perception of volitional autonomy over their actions, would be an important antecedent to sense-making and meaning-focused coping. We tested this conceptual hypothesis in the context of two distinct collective traumas. In Study 1 (n = 342), the comprehension facet of meaning in life (which is the facet most related to sense-making) mediated the relationship between free will beliefs and lower psychological distress related to the COVID-19 global pandemic. In Study 2 (n = 571), meaning-focused coping, but not other coping styles, mediated the relationship between free will beliefs and psychological recovery (i.e., lower distress over time) in a longitudinal sample collected in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey. We interpreted our findings as robust support for our hypothesis, the strength of which is bolstered by the distinct settings and methodologies with which the data were collected. We conclude by discussing our results in relation to the view that free will beliefs afford a more agentic approach to meaning-making, which ultimately facilities more effective psychological recovery from collective trauma.
... Acknowledge the role of intergenerational, historical, and institutional trauma in clients' worldview, and persistent belief that the world is a dangerous place, and that others cannot be trusted (Herman, 2015;Janoff-Bulman, 1985). ...
... Acknowledge the degradation of clients' self-concept and self-worth that may occur during certain abuse and adverse experiences (i.e., the "grooming" process involved in ongoing sexual abuse and assault), and the role of these experiences in clients' beliefs that they are incompetent and unworthy (Herman, 2015;Janoff-Bulman, 1985). Self-concept may also improve and expand, with clients experiencing positive changes as a result of exposure to adversity, to include improvements in: "personal strength, relating to others, new possibilities in life, appreciation of life, and spirituality" (Calhoun & Tedeschi, 2012, p. 7). ...
The prevalence of Adverse Childhood Experiences, and recent increase in stress during the COVID-19 crisis necessitates the practice of trauma-informed care in counseling. When addressing ethical concerns that emerge during counseling, attention to the principles of trauma-informed care is of critical importance. The purpose of this conceptual piece is to propose a Trauma-informed Ethical Decision-making Model that integrates trauma-informed standards (SAMHSA, 2014), with the proposed Principles of Trauma-informed Practice, and Kitchener and Anderson’s (2011) ethical decision-making model. This Trauma-informed Ethical Decision-making Model may provide counselors, particularly counselors-in-training, with a framework for addressing ethical concerns with client survivors of trauma. The framework may also provide counselor educators with a framework to support the development of curriculum regarding trauma-informed practice and ethical decision-making.
... The recent stock market crash and corruption scandals in our financial institutions have further shaken confidence and optimistic expectations. For those whose lives have been torn apart by these traumatic events, they are struggling not only with their pain and loss, but also with their shattered assumptions (Janoff-Bulman, 1985. The infamous day of 9/11 has left us with one fundamental question: What kind of optimism can survive horrific tragedies and relentless terrors that are largely beyond one's control? ...
... The concept of shattered assumptions, as postulated by Janoff-Bulman (1985, states that all human beings have certain assumptions about life that are not usually examined consciously. The three common assumptions mentioned by Janoff-Bulman are that the world is benevolent; that the world is meaningful; and that the self is worthy. ...
The authors first examined Wong’s (2001) existential model of tragic optimism (TO), which is based on meaning and spirituality rather than competence and positive outcome expectancies. The Life Attitudes Scale was developed to measure the five components of TO: Affirmation, Acceptance, Courage, Faith, and Self-transcendence. Five studies were completed to provide evidence of reliability and validity. Studies 1 and 2 were designed to finalize item selection through factor analysis and internal reliability. In Study 3 subjects completed the Life Attitudes Scale (LAS), Life Orientation Test-Revised (LOT-R) and the Adult State Hope Scale; the results demonstrated discriminant and convergent validity. In Study 4, subjects completed the LAS and the Personal Meaning Profile, and results demonstrated that the LAS was related to meaning and spirituality. In Study 5 subjects completed the LAS, the Posttraumatic Growth Inventory (PTGI), and the Stressful Life Experiences Scale (SLES) in order to assess predictive validity. Results suggested that the LAS was a better predictor of post-traumatic growth than the intensity of traumatic experience and served a mediator. Taken together, the results of the five studies indicate that the LAS possess adequate reliability and validity. The counselling implications of the TO were discussed. A case study was presented to illustrate the efficacy of Wong’s existential model of TO in counselling a depressed client.
Finally, the LAS complements existing questionnaires on optimism by focusing on a meaning-based optimism that could survive the harsh reality that shatters assumptions and destroys self-confidence.
... The process of piecing together traumatic memories in trauma therapy can enable clients to process traumatic experience by attaching a sequential, narrative structure to the events (Rothschild, 2000). Traumatic events can shatter our assumptions that the world is a reasonably safe and stable place (Janoff-Bulman, 1985, 1989 leaving a profound sense of overwhelm that can work on many levels: existential, social, psychological and emotional. Survivors may struggle to comprehend their experience in a world that may not make sense to them anymore (Janoff-Bulman, 1985, 1989. ...
... Traumatic events can shatter our assumptions that the world is a reasonably safe and stable place (Janoff-Bulman, 1985, 1989 leaving a profound sense of overwhelm that can work on many levels: existential, social, psychological and emotional. Survivors may struggle to comprehend their experience in a world that may not make sense to them anymore (Janoff-Bulman, 1985, 1989. The sense-making, verbalising, or 'processing' that is the work of trauma-informed psychological therapy is very much about putting all this back together into a coherent narrative or story. ...
Trauma survivors may see images of monsters in nightmares and visions when experiencing posttraumatic stress. However, there has been little commentary on the significance and meaning of this imagery and the wider relationship between monster imagery and posttraumatic stress. Applying an integrated experiential-processing approach to working with trauma in Counselling and Psychotherapy, emphasis is placed on facilitating ‘processing’ or making sense of the trauma, psychologically, emotionally, existentially and culturally. Examining the interplay of these elements, this paper explores monsters as symbol and metaphor for unspoken or unprocessed personal and cultural trauma, vessels for symbolically representing underlying, unacknowledged fears and experience. This paper discusses how encounters with the monster onscreen, in mental imagery or metaphor, may be allegorical to the individual’s internal struggle with post-traumatic stress. The model presented is applied within an analysis of the symbolic representation of the trauma of cancer, cancer treatment and traumatic loss in survival horror movie The Shallows (Collet-Serra (dir) (2016). The Shallows. Columbia Pictures). Jungian ideas are integrated to consider monsters as emergent symbolisation of unspoken ‘shadow’ fears, such as those surrounding cancer. In an experiential-processing account of trauma, incongruence between self-concept (our beliefs about self and world) and our actual experience of traumatic events is viewed as a source of psychological distress, prompting a breakdown and reorganisation of the self-structure. It is proposed that trauma experience confronts us with our mortality and fragility, bringing us into contact with the sense of ‘abject’ horror represented by monster imagery. Creeds (2007. The monstrous feminine: film, feminism, psychoanalysis. Routledge, London and New York) description of the abject as the ‘place where meaning collapses’ is applied to an understanding of psychological trauma, given that encounters with existential threats may render the everyday meaningless, engendering a need for meaning-making. Monster imagery psychologically represents the collapsing border between our ideas about self and world, and the destabilising experience of the shattering of pre-trauma assumptions. In this account monsters are located within a wider, adaptive evolutionary drive towards the reduction of trauma-related psychological distress, through symbolising experience into awareness for processing and meaning making. In this way monsters may play a complex role in a human struggle to come to terms with overwhelming events.
... The experience of a personal trauma is often framed as a critical inflection point that can disrupt one's sense of meaning (Updegraff & Taylor, 2000). Individual meaning is thought to be derived, in part, from a coherent view of the world as a benevolent place that the self has worth within (Schwartzberg & Janoff-Bulman, 1991;Solomon et al., 1997) and traumatic events directly challenge these assumptions (Janoff-Bulman, 1985). Those who find meaning in their trauma are often able to justify the experience within their previously held assumptive frameworks, thus achieving resolution without sacrificing their beliefs (Park & Folkman, 1997;Triplett et al., 2012). ...
... That is, across analyses, people who reported that they were more likely to understand the events surrounding Hurricane Harvey were more likely to rate their lives as meaningful. Traumatic events are thought to be particularly challenging to recover from due to the ways that they challenge or disrupt preexisting meaning-frameworks and basic assumptions about the self and the world (Janoff-Bulman, 1985;Schwartzberg & Janoff-Bulman, 1991). Park (2010) posits that finding ways to accommodate or adjust preexisting meaning-frameworks after experiencing a worldview-dissonant trauma is a critical aspect of the global effort to make life meaningful. ...
The purpose of this study was to examine the role of meaning-making in response to collective trauma. In the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey, we recruited participants ( N = 570) to test the hypothesis that searching for meaning (vs. finding meaning) in the event would be associated with greater (vs. lower) levels of acute and post-traumatic stress symptoms. We further hypothesized that searching for (and finding) meaning in the event would predict global search for (and presence of) meaning in life (MIL). Consistent with our hypotheses, we found that searching for meaning in the event was associated with greater psychological distress at both time points and predicted global search for MIL at one of the time points. Finding meaning in the event was unexpectedly not consistently associated with lower levels of stress; however, across analyses, finding meaning in Hurricane Harvey was associated with greater levels of MIL. Implications and possible explanations for these unexpected results are discussed.
... Awareness of the importance of sensing safety can mean that defenses, such as obsessions, addictions, avoidance, attempts at mastery, or health risk behaviors (Maunder and Hunter, 2016), can be understood as reasonable, meaningful, and purposeful attempts to sense safety in response to real, perceived, or anticipated danger (Sampson, 1990). It also explains how perceptions of supportive relationships are a vital part of health , and how shattered assumptions about life (Janoff-Bulman, 1985), hopelessness and meaninglessness (Newcomb and Harlow, 1986), uncertainty (Brosschot et al., 2018), or loss of cultural safety (Curtis et al., 2019) impact whole person health and wellbeing. The Sense of Safety Theoretical Framework described in this paper integrates a number of well described theories-including Attachment Theory (Bowlby, 1984;Maunder and Hunter, 2001;Bowlby, 1979), Maslow's Theory of Motivation (Maslow, 1943), Allostatic Load Theory (McEwen, 2007;Lupien et al., 2009), Polyvagal Theory (Porges, 2011), Social Safety Theory (Slavich, 2020), Generalized Unsafety Theory of Stress (Brosschot et al., 2018), Theory of Human Security (Blatz, 1973) and Interpersonal Theory (Sullivan, 1953). ...
Objectives
This research describes four aspects of the development of the Sense of Safety Theoretical Framework for whole person care: exploring the meaning of the phrase “sense of safety”—the whole person language; the range of human experience that impacts sense of safety—whole person scope; the dynamics that build sense of safety—the healing goals; and the personal and cross-disciplinary trauma-informed practitioner skills and attitudes that facilitate sense of safety.
Methods
This qualitative participatory study was conducted in two phases. Researchers iteratively explored the concept of sense of safety using focus groups and semi-structured interviews. Overarching research questions were: “Does the transdisciplinary concept of Sense of Safety make sense as an approach to the whole person in distress?”; “How do participants describe the meaning of the phrase “sense of safety”?”; “What does a person experience when they feel safe?” and “What can practitioners do to facilitate a sense of safety?” Phase One involved rural and urban family doctors, mental health clinicians across multiple disciplines, people with lived experience of mental distress, and Indigenous Australian academics. Phase Two widened the scope of disciplines involved to iteratively reflect on their clinical and personal experience with “sense of safety” and included international family doctors, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, social workers, teachers, multidisciplinary rural clinicians and multidisciplinary clinicians with a lived experience of physical trauma, grief, and severe mental illness.
Results
The everyday language “sense of safety” was found to describe a whole person experience that integrates awareness of self, others, and context. The scope of human experience that impacts sensed safety was found to include seven domains: Environment, Social Climate, Relationships, Body, Inner Experience, Sense of Self and Spirit/Meaning (Whole Person Domains). Five dynamic healing goals were identified that build sense of safety: Broad Awareness; Calm Sense-Making; Respectful Connection; Capable Engagement; and Owning Yourself (Sense of Safety Dynamics). Five practitioner skills and attitudes that facilitate sense of safety were named: Valuing the Whole Picture; Holding Story Safely; Being with You; Learning Together; and Validating Dignity (Sense of Safety Practitioner Skills).
Conclusion
The Sense of Safety Theoretical Framework developed in this study focusses on an experience that is a fundamental prerequisite of health. Sense of safety is affected by, and influences, life story, relationships, meaning, sense of self, and – physical health: the whole person. The language “sense of safety” communicates an integrative experience that can help clinicians to see the whole person and describe a cross-disciplinary goal of care. The Whole Person Domains clarify the scope of care required, while the Sense of Safety Dynamics offer practical processes of care. The Sense of Safety Practitioner Skills describe trauma-informed skills and attitudes that facilitate a sense of safety. Each of these parts of the Sense of Safety Theoretical Framework translate practitioner, lived experience, and First Nations wisdom and a wide existing transdisciplinary literature into a framework and language ready for practice. Assessing and building sense of safety prioritizes a healing-oriented and trauma-informed approach. The Sense of Safety Theoretical Framework facilitates a paradigm shift that towards integrating sensation, subjective experience, physiology, and social determinants into everyday quality care in health, education and public policy.
... Herring (58) further suggests that one of the essential markers of 'care' is that it 'expresses respect for the dignity of the recipient'. In the context of responding to harm specifically, Janoff-Bulman's work (59,60) looked at traumatic life events and suggested that because of trauma, there is a loss of illusion and unspoken fundamental assumptions about the self and the world are shattered. Evident here is that when patients and families experience healthcare harm, their assumption that the healthcare service is inherently safe is shattered. ...
Background
Healthcare organisations risk harming patients and their families twofold. First, through the physical, emotional and/or financial harm caused by safety incidents themselves, and second, through the organisational response to incidents. The former is well-researched and targeted by interventions. However, the latter, termed ‘compounded harm’ is rarely acknowledged.
Aims
We aimed to explore the ways compounded harm is experienced by patients and their families as a result of organisational responses to safety incidents and propose how this may be reduced in practice.
Methods
We used framework analysis to qualitatively explore data derived from interviews with 42 people with lived or professional experience of safety incident responses. This comprised 18 patients/relatives, 16 investigators, seven healthcare staff and one legal staff. People with lived and professional experience also helped to shape the design, conduct and findings of this study.
Findings
We identified six ways that patients and their families experienced compounded harm because of incident responses. These were feeling: (1) powerless, (2) inconsequential, (3) manipulated, (4) abandoned, (5) de-humanised and (6) disoriented.
Discussion
It is imperative to reduce compounded harm experienced by patients and families. We propose three recommendations for policy and practice: (1) the healthcare system to recognise and address epistemic injustice and equitably support people to be equal partners throughout investigations and subsequent learning to reduce the likelihood of patients and families feeling powerless and inconsequential; (2) honest and transparent regulatory and organisational cultures to be fostered and enacted to reduce the likelihood of patients and families feeling manipulated; and (3) the healthcare system to reorient towards providing restorative responses to harm which are human centred, relational and underpinned by dignity, safety and voluntariness to reduce the likelihood of patients and families feeling abandoned, de-humanised and disoriented.
... Criminal victimization significantly affects people physically, emotionally and financially and results in a range of post-victimization needs such as practical assistance, non-judgmental understanding, acknowledgment of trauma, emotional support, and access to community resources (Nel, 2020). According to Janoff-Bulman (1985), victims often seek the support of family and friends, which is essential for their recovery. Price (2022) maintains that a strong support system of loved ones can help victims overcome their challenges and cope with their trauma. ...
In South Africa, social grants preserve recipients’ human dignity, enhance their quality of life and unlock their full potential. Social grants support approximately 46% of the South African population and they have a substantial impact on the lives of 27.8 million recipients. The fact that Limpopo is the province with the second-highest number of households receiving at least one type of grant motivated this study. A qualitative inquiry was conducted, and a phenomenological research design was adopted to explore social grant fraud in Kgobokwane village in Limpopo through a criminological theoretical lens. Eight participants who had experienced South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) fraud were interviewed. The findings laid the groundwork for recommendations and shed light on the risk factors behind victimization, the community's role, the significance of culture and language, and the underreporting of crimes. This paper seeks to help recipients of social grants and underprivileged communities make well-informed decisions to combat social grant fraud. Its recommendations aim to empower victims and promote education and awareness to minimize victimization.
... The theoretical underpinnings of the construct of moral injury derive from an integration of several well-established models of moral emotions, cognitions, and behavior (see Litz et al., 2009). These include cognitive dissonance theory (Festinger, 1957), social-cognitive theories of posttraumatic stress (e.g., Janoff-Bulman, 1985), and biopsychosocial models of self-conscious emotions (e.g., Tangney et al., 2007). Much as trauma exposure may violate an individual's schema of a safe and benevolent world, PMIEs are thought to result in internal conflict and dissonance when beliefs about morality clash with one's own or others' behaviors (Jinkerson, 2016;Litz et al., 2009). ...
Youth who become involved in the juvenile justice system are at highly elevated risk for many emotional and behavioral problems. Past research has often focused on trauma exposure as a transdiagnostic risk factor in this population. However, distress resulting from perpetrating or witnessing acts that conflict with one’s deeply held moral beliefs, termed moral injury, may also play a role in predisposing these youth toward negative mental health outcomes. This study utilized a sample of 96 youth housed in secure detention centers and tested associations between exposure to potentially morally injurious events (PMIEs) and mental health outcomes, including anxiety, depression, posttraumatic stress, and nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI). After controlling for trauma exposure and demographic variables, PMIEs were significantly and positively associated with symptoms of depression and anxiety, as well as engagement in NSSI. Implications for research and clinical practice are discussed.
... Many other authors (e.g., Chemtob, Roitblat, Hamada, Carlson, & Twentyman, 1988;Janoff-Bulman, 1985;Wilson, 1989) have argued from similar perspectives. In each case the central theme is that of successfully processing or integrating the trauma into a schematic representation that restores feelings of security and invulnerability. ...
We integrated existing cognitive processing models of posttrauma reactions into a longitudinal model. Data were obtained after a multiple shooting in a city office block. The subject group comprised 158 office workers who were in the building at the time of the shootings. The methodology of this research was a repeated measures survey, with data collection at 4, 8, and 14 months posttrauma. Measures included the Impact of Events Scale (IES) and the Symptom Checklist–90–Revised. A path analysis was performed with the IES as an indication of cognitive processing. Intrusion and avoidance were shown to mediate between exposure to trauma and symptom development. Intrusion was also found to be negatively related to subsequent symptom levels. The findings provide provisional support for a cognitive processing model.
... These findings suggest there may be something qualitatively different about the experience of trauma compared to other indicators of underprivileged life circumstances measured in this study. This relationship between traumatic experience and world beliefs is also plausibly consistent with "Shattered Assumptions Theory", which holds that the experience of traumatic events "shatters" positive world assumptions, leading to mental health issues, such as depression (e.g., Janoff-Bulman, 1985, 1989Schuler & Boals, 2016). However, there are important qualifications to this support. ...
Objectives:
We tested whether generalized beliefs that the world is safe, abundant, pleasurable, and progressing (termed "primal world beliefs") are associated with several objective measures of privilege.
Methods:
Three studies (N = 16,547) tested multiple relationships between indicators of privilege-including socioeconomic status, health, sex, and neighborhood safety-and relevant world beliefs, as well as researchers and laypeople's expectations of these relationships. Samples were mostly from the USA and included general population samples (Study 2) as well as focused samples of academic researchers (Study 1) and people who had experienced serious illness or trauma (Study 3).
Results:
Studies 1-2 found mostly negligible relationships between world beliefs and indicators of privilege, which were invariably lower than researcher predictions (e.g., instead of the expected r = 0.33, neighborhood affluence correlated with Abundant world belief at r = 0.01). Study 3 found that people who had experienced serious illness (cancer, cystic fibrosis) only showed modest differences in beliefs from controls.
Conclusions:
While results do not preclude that some individuals' beliefs were meaningfully affected by life events, they imply that such changes are smaller or less uniform than widely believed and that knowing a person's demographic background may tell us relatively little about their beliefs (and vice versa).
... From a cognitive point of view, listening to trauma patients' stories can generate changes in caregivers' world views and beliefs that are similar to the changes the original trauma induced in their patients (Janoff-Bulman, 1985). Professionals who work with trauma survivors are exposed to their patients' experiences of violence, abuse, insecurity, and powerlessness (McCann & Pearlman, 1990), but certain traits arising from professionals' training appear to be protective factors against vicarious trauma and can substantially reduce the negative impacts of their work on their mental health. ...
Professionals who work with victims and trauma survivors are continually confronted with the destruction, horror, and losses their clients have experienced and are therefore susceptible to vicarious trauma (as a result of their empathetic engagement with and cumulative exposure to traumas related by patients) and post-traumatic growth (as a multidimensional process that leads to both changes in beliefs, objectives, behaviors, and identity as a consequence to trauma exposure). Although psychologists have long been aware of these two phenomena, they remain under-researched. The present study examined whether professionals who work with trauma survivors are impacted by vicarious trauma and whether they experience post-traumatic growth. We also looked for possible correlations between the two phenomena. Analyses of responses to the ProQOL (vicarious trauma) and PTGI (post-traumatic growth) questionnaires provided by 163 professionals (mostly legal practitioners and psychologists) within a French nationwide victim-support organization showed that they experience both vicarious trauma and post-traumatic growth and that these two phenomena are closely linked. Further research is now needed to confirm and more clearly define these links. Results also showed that profession, professional experience, and specialized training moderate vicarious trauma and post-traumatic growth. These variables must be taken into account when evaluating the two phenomena and when providing support to professionals but also in conception and implementation of training programs and supervision settings.
... PTSD refers to the cases that continue the characteristics of intrusion, avoidance, negative cognition and mood, and hyperarousal for more than one month in case of experiencing traumatic events directly or indirectly (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). According to theory of shattered assumptions, the assumption that the society would be safe is destroyed through an unfortunate traumatic event, accompanied by painful symptoms such as PTSD (Janoff-Bulman, 1985). It is reported that the average prevalence of PTSD among Korean adults is less than 2%, which indicates lower statistics than those of the United States or Canada (Hong et al., 2020). ...
This study examined co-occurring patterns of mental health among disaster victims using latent profile analysis and assessed the difference between sociodemographic factors and protective factors that affect group classification. The data of 2300 disaster victims from 2019 (4th wave) NDMI (National Disaster Management Research Institute) for Long-term Survey on the Change of Life of Disaster Victims were analyzed. The latent profile analysis revealed that three profiles; High comorbid symptom (HCS) (6.2%), Medium comorbid symptom (MCS) (22.6%), and Low symptom (LS) (71.2%). The factors that explain the difference in this divided profile group were the type of disaster, hurt, income, age, elapsed years, resilience, and community resilience in the multinomial logistic regression. When individual resilience and community resilience are high, more effective in making people belong to the low comorbid symptom group. Therefore, there is a need for a strategy that promotes synergy between the two relationships while maintaining a dual focus point of view that fosters resilience at the individual and community level together.
... A produção científica sobre os diversos tipos de ativismo e movimentos sociais na contemporaneidade tem apontado para um processo de individualização das causas coletivas que se difundiram e se multiplicaram pelo mundo. Essa literatura enfatiza que o corpo tem sido utilizado como fonte de identificação das causas/mobilizações que caracterizam os ativismos ligados à vitimização (Mahoney, 1994;Janoff-Bulman, 1985 (2007) propõem que o uso do termo "trauma" não é um dado, mas uma construção: ...
Resumo As “brincadeiras perigosas” (“desafios online”) fazem parte da cultura digital, atraindo milhares de crianças e adolescentes e causando severos danos à saúde. Este artigo buscou analisar a experiência do Instituto DimiCuida (IDC), em Fortaleza (CE), ação pioneira de prevenção de desafios online danosos à saúde, que se disseminam em diferentes ambientes da Web 2.0. O estudo teve como objetivos específicos analisar a emergência do Instituto; identificar os principais parceiros envolvidos, os ambientes digitais e analógicos onde atuam; além de entender as estratégias de prevenção desenvolvidas. Trata-se de um estudo de caso baseado em análise documental. O acervo, extraído de diversas plataformas digitais, foi processado com o Atlas Ti e submetido à análise temática. O IDC emerge da ressignificação existencial e política de uma experiência de luto e tem como característica enfatizar alternativas às atividades online, tendo como foco central a escola e seus agentes. Por se tratar de um campo em construção e sem referência precedente de atuação, a prevenção realizada nos ambientes digitais pouco explora a linguagem e recursos da internet, aposta no controle parental e pouco leva em consideração as experiências de corpo e as performances identitárias envolvidas nos desafios.
... Contemporary scientific production on various types of activism and social movements has pointed to an individualization process of collective causes which has spread and multiplied throughout the world. This literature emphasizes that the body has been used as a source of identification of causes/mobilizations characterizing victim activism (Mahoney, 1994;Janoff-Bulman, 1985). ...
“Dangerous games” (“online challenges”) are part of the digital culture, attracting thousands of children and adolescents and causing severe damage to their health. This study aimed to analyze the experience of the DimiCuida Institute (DCI) in Fortaleza, state of Ceará, Brazil, a pioneering initiative to prevent online challenges, disseminated in different Web 2.0 environments, which can harm young people’s health. The specific objectives of this study sought to analyze the emergence of the Institute; identify the main partners involved in its network, assess the digital and analog environments in which they operate; and understand the prevention strategies developed. This is a case study based on document analysis. Our data, extracted from several digital platforms, was processed with Atlas Ti and subjected to thematic analysis. The DCI emerges from the existential and political resignification of a bereavement experience and is characterized by emphasizing alternatives to online activities, especially focusing on schools and their agents. Since this is still a field under construction and without previous references for lines of action, the prevention carried out in digital environments scarcely explores the language and resources of the Internet, betting on parental control and scarcely considering the experiences of the body and identity performances involved in the challenges.
... The traumatized individual views him-or herself as a physically and/or psychologically injured person who is subject to injury again in the future, the world seems hostile and uncontrollable. The self is experienced as damaged and frequently as worthless (cf., Janoff-Bulman, 1985). It is unable to shape its contacts in a satisfying way, especially when under stress. ...
Traumatic experiences not only may lead to the well-known posttraumatic symptoms but also can change a person's self and self-processes. The importance of the ability to maintain an intrapsychic dialogue, necessary for the resolution of the disruption which trauma causes in relationships and contact, is often not sufficiently regarded. The process-oriented trauma therapy presented here combines a Gestalt therapeutic frame with cognitive-behavioral elements and is committed to an interactional and dialogical approach. This intervention, with “dialogical exposure” as one of the core features, allows for the identification and resolution of the disruptions of contact so that patients can again experience continuity in their experience and regain their contact-ability.
... Information processing models seek to do this: recognising that stressors cannot be completely defined in objective terms (Rachman, 1980), they take into account individual differences in threat appraisal, attributions, and the meaning ascribed to trauma. Common to most cognitive conceptualisations is the notion that individuals bring to the traumatic event a set of beliefs and models of the world, themselves, and others (Janoff-Bulman, 1985;. Exposure to trauma provides information which is incompatible with these models, and yet highly salient. ...
... The experience of personal trauma has been described as a psychologically damaging event that disrupts one's sense of meaning (Updegraff & Taylor, 2000) and challenges fundamental assumptions about the self and the world (Janoff-Bulman, 1985). Though both positive and negative trajectories have been documented in response to trauma (Lepore & Revenson 2014), research consistently finds that, overall, it has decidedly negative implications for well-being (Kaltman, Krupnick, Stockton, Hooper, & Green, 2005;Kaniasty, 2012;Mills, Teesson, Ross, & Peters, 2006). ...
Introduction: Previous research demonstrates that perceived authenticity is positively associated with psychological health and security in the face of threats. The current research extends this work by testing whether perceived authenticity promotes recovery from the negative mental health consequences of collective trauma (e.g., a natural disaster).
Methods: We recruited a sample of undergraduates (N = 570), many of whom reported direct or indirect exposure to Hurricane Harvey, to complete surveys at two time points. We assessed exposure to the disaster, acute stress, post-traumatic stress, coping, and authenticity twice, once approximately 1 month after Hurricane Harvey (Time 1) and again approximately 9 weeks after Hurricane Harvey (Time 2).
Results: We employed multilevel modelling to explore whether authenticity would aid in recovery from collective trauma. Results showed that perceived authentic living at Time 1 predicted a variety of indicators of stress related to the hurricane at Time 2. Specifically, those participants who reported low authentic living at Time 1 reported greater levels of stress at Time 2, compared to individuals who reported higher levels of authentic living. Importantly, these effects remained even when controlling for known predictors of stress (e.g., levels of stress at Time 1 and coping strategies).
Discussion: Findings provide preliminary insight into authenticity as a part of a likely larger network of interrelated psychosocial qualities that have the potential to help one navigate recovery from trauma.
An exploration is made of grief and bereavement following the death of a loved one, including the impact of gender, age, and sexuality. Grief theories and models are considered relating to specific loss of a child, spouse, and parent as well as the need for social support to provide a form of scaffolding, aiding coping. Cultural scripts, gendered norms, vulnerability, and resilience are also examined, particularly in relation to the Covid-19 pandemic which denied opportunities for preparation and grieving, forcing professionals to make difficult proxy decisions and be unavailable to support those dying and their loved ones. The way technology now intersects with death and bereavement to ease suffering and offer greater social support, particularly for those living in remote communities, is also examined.
Over the past few years, there has been a growing awareness of the extent and consequences of sexual assault. Sexual assault has long-term consequences for the survivor’s mental health and brings into question the resources available to survivors for dealing with the consequences of the assault. The positive effects of spirituality and forgiveness on mental health are well documented; however, few studies have examined how sexual assault survivors use spiritual beliefs and forgiveness to cope with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and stress symptoms. Social support is another resource that has been found to contribute substantially to positive adaptation among trauma survivors. Nevertheless, conflicting results were found regarding the effect of social support on the recovery of sexual assault survivors. Since these resources have a significant impact on individuals who have experienced trauma, the purpose of this study was to examine how these resources relate to the levels of PTSD symptoms and general stress among female survivors of sexual assault. Two hundred and four ( N = 204) participants completed a demographic questionnaire and questionnaires about forgiveness, social support, spirituality, PTSD symptoms, and stress. Higher levels of forgiveness, spirituality, and social support were associated with lower levels of PTSD symptoms and stress. A two-step hierarchal regression showed that education, financial status, age at the time of the assault, forgiveness, and social support each contributed significantly to the explained variance of PTSD symptoms. The variability in reported stress could be explained by education, financial status, age at the time of the assault, forgiveness, and spirituality. The study’s findings point to the unique roles of forgiveness, spirituality, and social support as beneficial resources for coping with sexual assault. These findings also shed further light on the ways in which these resources can be used to cope with a variety of types of distress.
There is consistent evidence that increased self-compassion (SC) is associated with less posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms. However, knowledge about the contribution of SC to military-related posttraumatic sequelae among women combat veterans is sparse. Moreover, the underlying mechanism for the beneficial effect of SC remains to be determined. This study examines the contribution of SC to PTSD and complex PTSD (CPTSD) symptoms among female veterans as well as the mediating roles of coping strategies in these possible associations. In a cross-sectional study, a volunteer community sample of Israeli women combat veterans (n = 885) and noncombat veterans (n = 728) responded to online self-report questionnaires. Combat veterans reported higher levels of PTSD symptoms but not CPTSD symptoms, SC, or coping strategies, as compared to noncombat veterans. Moreover, among combat and noncombat veterans, SC was associated with lower levels of PTSD and CPTSD symptoms beyond adverse childhood experiences and combat exposure. Notably, SC was indirectly associated with higher levels of PTSD and CPTSD symptoms through maladaptive coping strategies, for both combat and noncombat veterans. Reports of higher SC among female veterans are associated with less severe PTSD and CPTSD symptoms. Moreover, maladaptive coping strategies might serve as mechanisms that link SC to military-related posttraumatic consequences.
This chapter discusses the realm of abuse and its impact on clients’ self-concept, exploring both the degradation resulting from adverse experiences and the possibility of post-traumatic growth. The text examines how abuse, including spiritual abuse, sexual abuse, sex trafficking, relationship abuse, and child abuse, can shape individuals’ worldviews and erode their sense of safety and control. The American Counseling Association (ACA) Code of Ethics serves as a guiding framework, providing insights into ethical considerations and legal obligations for mental health professionals. This chapter navigates through the ethical principles of client welfare, informed consent, avoiding harm, and respecting client rights, emphasizing the importance of cultural competence and continuous education on trauma-related issues. A case study featuring Marlo (they/them) is integrated, applying the discussed concepts. This chapter concludes with a comprehensive overview of state and federal guidance, aligning with ACA’s ethical principles and highlighting the importance of professional competence in trauma counseling which is applied to the case study. The goal is to provide mental health professionals and practitioners with a nuanced understanding of abuse dynamics, ethical considerations, and legal perspectives, fostering a compassionate and effective approach to trauma-informed care.
Exposure to trauma and adversity results in significant impact on the mental, and physical health of the individual, their loved ones, and communities. Helping professionals play a key role in providing behavioral healthcare to survivors and are often confronted with ethical dilemmas associated with the effects of this presenting issue. Counselors, social workers, and psychologists have an obligation to attend to utilize trauma-informed practice when supporting this population. This introductory chapter sets the stage for proceeding sections and chapters, discussing the principles of trauma-informed practice (Stark C, Tapia-Fuselier JL Jr., Bunch K, J Trauma Stud Educ 1(1): 108–125, 2022. https://doi.org/10.32674/jis.v1i1.3678ojed.org/jtse), and how they inform the ethical decision-making process.
Es wird ein personzentrierter Zugang zu gefolterten Menschen beschrieben. Zentral ist dabei das Verständnis für den gesellschaftlichen Charakter der erlittenen „fundamentalen Inkongruenz zur Welt“. Um angemessen mit der Thematik des Bösen, des Dunklen, des nicht therapierbaren Leidens umgehen zu können, ist ein gutes Arbeitsteam nötig. Da das Erleben von Gefolterten geprägt ist vom Gefühl der Fremdheit der Welt und sich selber gegenüber, ist es besonders schwierig, aber um so wichtiger, behutsam und unbeirrt danach zu suchen, in Beziehung zu ihnen zu kommen.
In 2018, Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (CPTSD) was officially recognized as a distinct syndrome in the International Classification of Diseases, 11th Revision (ICD-11). This recognition aimed to differentiate between neurotic disorders secondary to stressful situations and somatoform disorders, and disorders specifically associated with stress. The inclusion of CPTSD in the ICD-11 marked the culmination of two decades of research focused on understanding its symptoms, treatments, and risk factors. However, despite the progress made, a comprehensive meta-analysis to elucidate the specific risk factors and impact on the development of CPTSD is still lacking. The objective of this article is to conduct such a meta-analysis. A total of 24 studies were selected for analysis, and the findings revealed several key risk factors associated with the development of CPTSD. The main risk factor identified is having experienced sexual abuse in childhood (k = 12; OR = 2.880). In addition, childhood physical abuse (k = 11; OR = 2.841), experiencing emotional neglect during childhood (k = 5; OR = 2.510), physical abuse throughout life (k = 8; OR = 2.149) and being a woman (k = 13; OR = 1.726) were also significant risk factors.
Acid attack on women is a common crime in India, but very few researches have been done in this area, in order to study the psychological impact of such heinous crime. This study aimed at increasing the levels of hope, personal control and post-traumatic growth (PTG) by implementing an intervention for the acid attack survivors. 50 acid attack survivors were part of this study through homogenous purposive sampling. Pre-intervention scores were taken from them on all three components, followed by their sub-components. In the intervention phase, the
participants were asked to write three-good things each day, for a period of 14 days. Postintervention scores indicated that there was significant correlation between new possibilities and pathway sub-scale and total score of hope. Significant relationship was also found between personal strength and agency sub-scale of hope. Pathway sub-scale of hope correlated significantly with appreciation of life and total PTG score. There is also significant relationship between god-mediated control and relating to others sub-scale of PTG. There was significant increase in all the scores of the scales and sub-scales for all the components, in the postintervention phase. This study can be further used to implement more such interventions with these survivors, in order to enhance their mental health and use for more policy related decisions.
Background
Self-perception is an important internal resource, and violence exposure can negatively impact children’s view of themselves. Although camp interventions can enhance self-perception, research has not yet examined whether camp interventions improve self-perception among children affected by family violence. Camp-based interventions promote health equity by addressing common barriers to service engagement.
Objective
Using a non-masked, parallel randomized controlled design, this pilot study evaluated whether a camp-based intervention (i.e., Camp HOPE) enhanced self-perception among youth exposed to family violence.
Method
Participants included 47 children aged 7–12 (M = 9.55, SD = 1.63; 79% Black/African American) and one of their adult caregivers seeking services from a Family Justice Center. Children were assigned to the camp (n = 23) or waitlist control (n = 24) condition using block randomization. Caregiver-child dyads completed evaluations at baseline, 2-month follow-up, and 5-month follow-up. Children reported on three self-perception domains: Social Competence, Behavioral Conduct, and Global Self-Worth (GSW). Piecewise latent growth curve models evaluated between-group differences in self-perception at 2- and 5-month follow-up.
Results
Findings from intent-to-treat analyses indicated that Camp HOPE may have a temporary, negative impact on children’s GSW (Diff. = − 2.65; SE = 1.22; p = 0.029; g = 0.63). Supplemental "as-treated” analyses revealed no significant differences between children who attended and did not attend the camp.
Conclusions
Results are inconsistent with previous findings that camp interventions enhance self-perception, raising important questions about the unique experiences of youth exposed to family violence. Given these findings, Camp HOPE America might consider modifications to enhance effectiveness.
Background
Exposure to victimization can negatively impact children’s self-perception; however, little is known about how types of victimization are related to different facets of self-perception. Objective: The current study examined associations between three metrics of victimization exposure (e.g., direct victimization, indirect victimization, caregiver intimate partner violence (IPV) exposure) and three aspects of self-perception (i.e., global self-worth, social competence, behavioral conduct) in a sample of racially diverse youth. Participants and Setting: Participants were 96 children aged 7-12 (Mage = 9.34, SD = 1.45; 55.2% girls) and their primary caregiver (Mage = 35.20, SD = 8.08; 100% women). Families were recruited from a family safety center in the Midsouth, United States. The sample was predominantly Black or African American (76%) and lower income (65% lived below the federal poverty line for a family of three). Methods: Children reported on their own self-perception and experiences of direct and indirect victimization; caregivers reported on their experiences with IPV. Results: Regression analyses (n=96 children) demonstrated that direct victimization exposure was negatively associated with children’s self-worth and social competence while indirect victimization exposure was positively linked with children’s self-worth and social competence. Caregiver IPV was not significantly associated with any domain of self-perception. Conclusions: Results highlight the importance of violence prevention programs targeting different forms of victimization and improving accessibility to interventions for children exposed to adversity.
Objective:
The COVID-19 pandemic has been conceptualized as a potentially traumatic event, although heterogeneity in experience (e.g., isolation) and in type and severity of traumatic stress response (e.g., hygiene hypervigilance) query the applicability of the posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) diagnostic construct. Parallels may be drawn to chronic illness and continuous traumatic situations (CTS) literature, which suggests unique symptom presentations that may occur during cumulative, ongoing traumas.
Method:
Eighty-four adults completed the PTSD Checklist with appended questions evaluating pandemic index events, temporality of intrusive symptoms, self-appraised abnormality, and context dependence of symptoms. Using exploratory latent profile analysis, we modeled the latent structure of traumatic stress response to COVID-19 in order to evaluate possible nuanced patterns of symptoms differentiating PTSD from a transient ongoing trauma response.
Results:
Two profiles broadly delineated by severity across all variables emerged, suggesting the framework of PTSD is apt when applied to COVID-19. However, secondary analyses revealed subtle signals supporting chronic illness and CTS frameworks. Specifically, some participants who met criteria for PTSD did not endorse index events meeting Criterion A, most endorsed intrusive symptoms related to a present or future threat (versus a past trauma), and 30% reported their symptoms to be context dependent.
Conclusion:
Results highlight a need for improved assessment and opportunities for treatment modification. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).
Women faculty of color endure gendered racial (intersectional) trauma in the workplace that often results in posttraumatic stress symptoms (e.g., cognitive intrusions and avoidance) and poor work outcomes. However, organizational interventions often place the onus on the worker to alleviate such deleterious stressors rather than eradicating its discriminatory practices on a systemic level. Oppressive and psychological injurious practices toward women of color in academe include isolation from academic networks, epistemological exclusion, and invisible labor. Facing both sexism and racism, women faculty of color are also uniquely ascribed stereotyped gendered racial roles (e.g., Strong Black Woman and lotus blossom) and are more sexually harassed and objectified than White women and men of all races and ethnicities. Such harmful encounters elicit trauma-induced safety checking coping behaviors that prioritizes the needs of the dominant group over that of their own. A multilevel trauma-informed approach, however, could attenuate the psychological demands of the worker and generate accountability at organizational and management levels. As such, this symposium will highlight the use of intersectionality theory and the public health intervention model (primary, secondary, and tertiary interventions) as an integrated framework to cultivate trauma informed organizations, thereby mitigating re-traumatization and promoting the well-being and career advancement of women faculty of color.
Over the past decade, cyber-sexual assault (also known as "nonconsensual pornography" or "revenge porn") has gained the attention of legal experts, the media, and most recently, the counseling profession. Whereas this nonconsensual sharing of sexually explicit images online, through social medial, or other forms of technology has been demonstrated to have significant impacts on victims, researchers have focused heavily upon the legality of these actions (i.e. should there be consequences for posting nude/semi-nude photos of non-consenting adults to the internet), but there has been a lack of attention to the mental health consequences of cyber-sexual assault on victims. The purpose of this study was to provide empirical support to how the psychological aftermath of cyber-sexual assault mirrors that of sexual assault and thus should be taken as seriously as sexual assault (clinically and legally). This study was conducted to investigate the direction and strength of relationships among latent variables associated with trauma symptomology (i.e., emotional dysregulation, trauma guilt, post-traumatic stress disorder, and depression) in a sample of survivors of cyber-sexual assault. This investigation specifically tested whether modeling latent variables emotional dysregulation as measured by the Brief Version of the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale [DERS-16] (Bjureberg et al., 2015) or trauma guilt as measured by the Trauma-Related Guilt Inventory [TRGI] (Kubany et al., 1996) as the independent variable, where the remaining latent variables of post-traumatic stress disorder as measured by the Impact of Events Scale Revised [IES-R] (Weiss & Marmar, 1996) and depression as measured by the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale Revised [CESD-R] (Eaton et al., 2004) were modeled as dependent variables, was a good fit for data collected from cyber-sexual assault survivors. Furthermore, the secondary analysis investigated whether modeling the latent variables of emotional dysregulation and trauma guilt as mediating variables on the direction and strength of relationship on the dependent variables of post-traumatic stress disorder and depression was a good fit for data collected from cyber-sexual assault survivors. To test the hypotheses that cyber-sexual assault survivors would show increased trauma symptomology similar to physical sexual assault survivors a structural equation model was developed. The results of the structural equation model (SEM) analyses identified trauma guilt contributed to 14% of the variance of emotional dysregulation; which then served to mediate the outcome variables most significantly. In fact, Emotional Dysregulation contributed to 67% of the variance in the levels of PTSD symptomology, and 44% of the variance in the levels of Depression.
Europe is living through a refugee crisis of historic proportions, with subsequent evolving responses having now become one of the continent’s defining challenges of the early twenty-first century (Médécins Sans Frontières, 2016; UNHCR, .The sea route to Europe: The Mediterranean passage in the age of refugees, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Geneva, 2015).
PTSD as a disorder was first introduced as a diagnosis by the American Psychiatric Association (American Psychiatric Association (APA), Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders 1980) in the DSM III in 1980, with interest in it booming to such an extent thereafter that it was referred to in mass media as “the disorder of the 1990s” (Marsella et al., Ethnocultural aspects of posttraumatic stress disorder: Issues, research, and clinical applications, 1996).
This study aims to explore the pathways to self-adjustment following institutionalisation from the children’s perspectives. One focus group discussion was conducted with 37 institutionalised children aged 9 to 15 in each of 5 selected residential homes for children in Rwanda. Data analysis was based on abbreviated version of grounded theory methodology. Findings show that a child is more likely to adopt a “negative pathway” to rendering children orphans i.e. orphanization. Negative pathway subsumes destructive, pessimistic, and distrustful attributes to self-adjustment.
This chapter outlines briefly the dynamics of the interplay between Child Sexual Abuse and Family. Child abuse is a state of emotional, physical, economic and sexual maltreatment meted out to a person below the age of eighteen and is a globally prevalent phenomenon. Child abuse is a violation of the basic human rights of a child and is an outcome of a set of inter-related familial factors among other ones. The primary focus is on the issues of intrafamilial and extrafamilial child sexual abuse, familial risk factors for abuse and broadly some theories that contribute to the understanding of intrafamilial child sexual abuse. The chapter also explores reactions of the family to the sexually abused child, evaluation of the interventions suitable for the same and the status of psychotherapy with respect to the sexually abused child and their family.
This chapter outlines briefly the dynamics of the interplay between Child Sexual Abuse and Family. Child abuse is a state of emotional, physical, economic and sexual maltreatment meted out to a person below the age of eighteen and is a globally prevalent phenomenon. Child abuse is a violation of the basic human rights of a child and is an outcome of a set of inter-related familial factors among other ones. The primary focus is on the issues of intrafamilial and extrafamilial child sexual abuse, familial risk factors for abuse and broadly some theories that contribute to the understanding of intrafamilial child sexual abuse. The chapter also explores reactions of the family to the sexually abused child, evaluation of the interventions suitable for the same and the status of psychotherapy with respect to the sexually abused child and their family.
ResearchGate has not been able to resolve any references for this publication.