An Assessment of Judges' Self‐Reported Experiences of Secondary Traumatic Stress. (6th June 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Edwards, Charles P.; Miller, Monica K.
• Is Part Of: Juvenile & family court journal. Volume 70:Number 2(2019)
• Page Start: 7
• Page End: 29
• Publication Date: 2019-06-06
• Subjects: judicial stress -- vicarious trauma -- secondary stress -- burnout -- Constructivist Self‐Development Theory; Juvenile justice, Administration of -- United States -- Periodicals; Juvenile courts -- United States -- Periodicals; Domestic relations courts -- United States -- Periodicals; 346.015
• DOI: 10.1111/jfcj.12134
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0161-7109

Abstract

Abstract: Many judges experience occupation‐specific stress, such as secondary traumatic stress (STS), burnout, compassion fatigue, and vicarious traumatization. A content analysis of 762 judges' open‐ended responses to a survey asking whether they had suffered from STS revealed that judges moderately experienced most types of stress. Some case types (e.g., family court) and some job aspects (e.g., gruesome evidence) were particularly stressful. Judges reported both positive (e.g., social support) and negative (e.g., distractions) coping mechanisms. Interventions should be tailored to judges' characteristics, (e.g., gender), job (e.g., family court), beliefs (e.g., that STS does not exist), and level of distress.