Managing incidents of domestic violence: lay trauma counselors' perspectives on implementing trauma intervention strategies

• Main Author: Smith, Eulinda V.
• Format: Others
• Language: en
• Published: 2014
• Subjects: Domestic violence; Trauma; Lay trauma counsellors; Trauma debriefing models; Early crisis intervention strategies; Trauma management system; Trauma models
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net10539/14454

Thesis (M.A.)--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Humanities, 2013. === Domestic violence is rife in South Africa and the negative impact thereof is brought by survivors into their homes, communities and workplace settings. Trauma counsellors often take on the work responsibility of intervening in cases of domestic violence to meet the needs of the survivor. Adopting a qualitative research design, the researcher explored the perceptions of trauma counsellors in their workplace setting regarding intervention strategies used when providing services to survivors of domestic violence. Purposive sampling was used to identify 13 adult lay trauma counsellors, both male and female employed by a non-government institution operating as a 24-7 hour Crisis Hotline in the Johannesburg Metropolitan area. The researcher gathered data by conducting personal, semi-structured interviews with research participants. Data analysis took the form of Thematic Content Analysis. The researcher identified that the participants seemed not to be aware of workplace systems and procedural guidelines, and tended to adopt a personalized approach in dealing with survivors of domestic violence. Most participants managed cases utilising ‘early crisis intervention models’ as a once-off trauma intervention strategy although they did not perceive it as being effective. It is thus recommended that such stand-alone intervention strategies should not be implemented unless further follow-up or after-care support is offered to the survivors of domestic violence.