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BJSW Advance Access published online on March 5, 2008
British Journal of Social Work, 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

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

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.


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