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BJSW Advance Access originally published online on March 5, 2008
British Journal of Social Work 2009 39(6):1154-1174; doi:10.1093/bjsw/bcn021
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© The Author 2008. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The British Association of Social Workers. All rights reserved.

Growth in the Shadow of War: The Case of Social Workers and Nurses Working in a Shared War Reality

Rachel Lev-Wiesel, Hadass Goldblatt, Zvi Eisikovits and Hanna Admi

Rachel Lev-Wiesel, PhD., is a professor at the School of Social Work, Faculty of Social Welfare and Health Sciences, University of Haifa, Israel. Professor Lev-Wiesel main research areas are trauma, domestic violence, coping and posttraumatic growth. She serves as the Chairperson of the Israeli Association for Social and Domestic Violence and Sexual Abuse.

Correspondence to Rachel Lev-Wiesel, Ph.D., School of Social Work, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel. Email: rlev{at}univ.haifa.ac.il


  Abstract

This study aimed to assess post-traumatic stress symptoms and vicarious traumatization (VT) versus post-traumatic growth (PTG) among Israeli practitioners who shared war-related reality with their clients during the Second Lebanon–Israel war (2006). In addition, the contribution of potency (one's personal resource) and the role of peri-traumatic dissociation (the emotional detachment activated during or immediately after a traumatic event) were examined. Two months after the war, a convenience sample of 204 practitioners (seventy-six nurses and 128 social workers), all residents and employees in the Haifa area, were administered a self-report questionnaire. Findings showed that nurses had higher post-traumatic growth (PTG) compared with social workers. Personal resource (potency) was found to contribute to the reduction of vicarious traumatization (VT), whereas peri-traumatic dissociation was found to contribute to both PTG and VT in the group of social workers.

Keywords: Post-traumatic growth, vicarious traumatization, peri-traumatic dissociation, shared war reality, post-traumatic stress symptoms, trauma, practitioners, resilience


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