Are parents at a higher risk for secondary traumatic stress?: How interviewing child victims impacts relationships with forensic interviewer's friends and family.

Abstract

Forensic interviewers are at a heightened risk for secondary traumatic stress (STS) due to their frequent interactions with victims of child maltreatment (Bonach & Heckert, 2012). To date, however, few studies have examined the negative effects of this work on interviewers' social and emotional well-being. The present study seeks to explore the effect of STS on the relationships of forensic interviewers, including those with friends, family, and their respective children. Data are derived from a sample of 367 forensic interviewers (FIs) recruited from across the United States. The current study used a cross-sectional research design to obtain qualitative and quantitative data from an online survey of certified forensic interviewers. Personal-level predictors of STS included interviewers' sex (β = 0.11, p = 0.02), trauma history (β = 0.13, p = 0.004), and frequency of socializing with family members outside of work (β = -0.12, p = 0.01). Work-related predictors included the frequency of direct (β = 0.10, p = 0.04) and indirect exposures to graphic details of child maltreatment (β = 0.09, p = 0.05), burnout (β = 0.58, p = 0.000), and years of experience investigating crimes against children (β = 0.10, p = 0.03). Factors such as parental status and external social support were not significantly associated with STS in the qualitative analysis. Forensic interviewers experience both positive and negative effects of exposure to crimes against children, with work-related factors being particularly impactful on the potential for STS.