Date
12-2021
Department
School of Behavioral Sciences
Degree
Doctor of Education in Community Care and Counseling (EdD)
Chair
Richard L Green
Keywords
vicarious trauma, law enforcement officer, spouses/intimate partners, law enforcement, post-traumatic stress disorder, secondary traumatic stress
Disciplines
Counseling
Recommended Citation
Richardson, Dortheen, "Vicarious Trauma in Spouses/Intimate Partners of Law Enforcement Officers and the Relationship between Trauma and Relationship Functioning" (2021). Doctoral Dissertations and Projects. 3322.
https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/doctoral/3322
Abstract
The phenomenological study is to understand better the impact of vicarious trauma (VT) on the spouses/intimate partners of law enforcement officers (LEO)s in Alabama and allow researchers to attain a meaningful understanding of real-life events and the complexity of the social phenomenon. The goal is to highlight the inequity in the treatment of spouses/intimate partners of LEOs and develop protocols for mandatory reporting trauma. The theories guiding this study are constructivist self-development theory (CSDT), secondary trauma theory (STT), and family stress theory (FST). The participants were former/current spouses/intimate partners of LEOs who experienced trauma while in the line of duty. The primary data source is interviews of participants who lived the phenomenon. The data were analyzed using the modified Van Kaam method, which guides the formation of themes related to mandatory reporting and treatment services to LEOs and their spouses/intimate partners.
