Holding it together: Coping with vicarious trauma in sport
Highlights
► Case study of two participants who have experienced vicarious trauma. ► Participants attempted to appraise and make meaning of their experiences. ► Participants re-experiences trauma through flashbacks and intrusive thoughts. ► Participants engaged in both acceptance and avoidance coping.
Section snippets
Case study, participants and context
This paper uses stories generated from case-study research. According to Schwandt (1997) the terms ‘case’ and ‘unit of analysis’ are often used interchangeable in research. However, he notes, for the qualitative inquirer, the term ‘case’ means something more than just ‘n’. For him, a case is typically regarded as a “specific and bounded (in time and place) instance of a phenomenon selected for study. The phenomenon of interest may be a person, process, event, group, organization, and so on” (p.
Results and discussion
Overall there were three main themes that emerged from the data analysis. These were: Meaning of Trauma, Re-experiencing, and Acceptance and Avoidance. In the sections that follow each of these themes will be discussed alongside quotes from Kate and Paul to highlight their experiences. These will also be combined with theoretical reflections on the data. In doing this we aim to provide commentary and comparison on how the experiences of our participants in a sporting context may compare to
Conclusions
Much research attention has been granted to the psychological effects of various traumatic events such as transportation accidents, natural disasters, and war related traumas (e.g., Holmes et al., 2007, Park and Ai, 2006). For example, Holmes et al. (2007) highlighted the intrusive imagery experiences of London school children viewing the attacks of September 11, 2001 on television. Yet despite this wealth of trauma-related research there remains a significant lack of understanding in the field
References (62)
- et al.
Avoidant coping style and post-traumatic stress following motor vehicle accidents
Behaviour Research and Therapy
(1995) - et al.
Post traumatic stress symptoms in London school children following September 11th 2001: an exploratory investigation of peritraumatic reactions and intrusive imagery
Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry
(2007) - et al.
Towards a cognitive model of dissociation
Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry
(2004) “To be of use”: enhancing the utility of qualitative research
Nursing Outlook
(1997)- et al.
Narrative inquiry in sport and exercise psychology: what can it mean, and why might we do it?
Psychology of Sport and Exercise
(2009) - et al.
Judging the quality of qualitative inquiry: criteriology and relativism in action
Psychology of Sport and Exercise
(2009) Stress, coping and development: An integrative perspective
(2007)Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders
(1994)Meaning making for survivors of violent death
- et al.
Vicarious traumatization and secondary traumatic stress: a research synthesis
Counselling Psychology Quarterly
(2006)