Vicarious Trauma in Interpreters
ID: | 3656 | |
Status: | Completed | |
Start date: | May | 2019 |
End Date: | July | 2020 |
Description
Vicarious traumatization is the pervasive and cumulative effect on an individual that results from working with traumatized individuals due to having an empathic connection with these individuals (McCann & Pearlman, 1990). Vicarious traumatization is understood as the changes a professional experience in his or her inner world due to the cumulative effect of exposure to a client's traumatic material (Pearlman & Saaktvine, 1995). This phenomenon is an occupational hazard that has been found to affect human service providers (Pearlman & Saaktvine, 1995; Hammerslough, 2005). Sign language interpreters are not exempt from the pervasive effects of vicarious traumatization (Harvey, 2001; Harvey, 2015; Barreto Abrams, 2018). Interpreters work in trauma-influenced settings where both hearing and Deaf consumers may discuss traumatic content, affecting the interpreter's life in personal and occupational contexts (Barreto Abrams, 2018). This study is an expansion of a pilot study and a pre-dissertation project that investigated the effects of vicarious trauma in sign language interpreters. This study will sample interpreters' vicarious trauma and coping strategies through well-established psychometric measures.
Principal investigators
- Barreto-Abrams, Jesus (Student) • Psychology