Empathy, resilience and distress in Norwegian and English investigative interviewers.

There has been increased scrutiny of occupations who less obviously experience adverse

impacts from indirect exposure to trauma. This thesis aimed to understand occupational

distress in non-traditional professions, who might similarly experience secondary trauma

through exposure to traumatogenic material; legal profession and law enforcement.

Literature Review

A systematic literature review explored the prevalence and predictors of secondary trauma in

legal professions. Repeated exposure to clients who have experienced trauma comprises a

significant part of lawyers’, attorneys’, solicitors’ and judges’ roles. The search elicited ten

articles for review. Quality appraisal showed significant methodological limitations in the

studies. Still, results showed a high prevalence of secondary trauma, compared to population

groups and other professional groups. Predictors included gender, work experience, personal

trauma and level of exposure. Findings and conclusions are discussed and indicate that the

significant variability between studies suggest a need for conceptually consistent and

scientifically robust studies in the future.

Research Report

The research report examined secondary trauma prevalence and predictors in English and

Norwegian investigative interviewers, as well as the potential role of empathy in the

development of secondary trauma. Police officers whose work task involved investigative

interviewing were invited to complete an online survey, consisting of questionnaires

measuring psychological distress, secondary trauma, empathy and perceived organisational

support. The results indicated moderate levels of distress and secondary trauma, which were

found to be higher than reported national and international norms. Secondary trauma was

found to correlate with wider psychological morbidity, and predictive models of distress and

resilience were suggested. Findings emphasised the need to implement organisational support

structures and resilience-building schemes to sustain police officers in key roles to ait the

vulnerable and secure prosecutions.