| Summary: | The experience of trauma has been the focus of much attention in the media and in academic
literature. Many of these studies have explored the experiences of rescue and emergency
personnel, including the interventions used to help them deal with these experiences. Critical
Incident Stress Debriefing (CISD) is one of many preventative interventions that are used with
these traumatized personnel. However, there are many inconsistencies relating to the efficacy of
this intervention tool. Research that has investigated this issue has focused mostly on the
experiences of the traumatized person/so
The current study adopts a different perspective in that it explores the perceptions of practitioners
who this method of intervention. The importance of professionals evaluating their tools cannot
be overemphasized. These professionals would be in a better position to make suggestions
regarding the use of their tool. A qualitative study was conducted that investigated the
perceptions of six psychologists employed by South African Police Services (SAPS) the within
the Durban and Pietermaritzburg areas (KwaZulu-Natal). These psychologists were trained by
the SAPS to conduct trauma-debriefing sessions using the method ofCISD. The results
suggested that this method of CISD has value when used as a group intervention with
traumatized police officers but due to the continuous exposure to trauma, this method needs to be
adapted or changed for police officers. Furthermore, due to continuous use of this method and
the fact that it is the only method that is in use by the SAPS to intervene with trauma, many
police officers become too familiar with this method and it tends to have less of an impact. === Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2008.
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