When vicarious trauma spreads: Examining burnout and vicarious resilience among victim service providers through the lens of resilience

This study examined the influence of vicarious trauma on burnout and vicarious resilience among victim service providers. It also examined whether resilience moderated these relationships. A sample of 300 victim service providers was recruited from public and private institutions through purposive sampling. Participants ranged in age from 22 to 55 years. Four scales were used for this study: The Vicarious Trauma Scale (VTS; Vrklevski & Franklin, 2008), the Burnout subscale of the Professional Quality of Life Scale (ProQOL; Stamm, 2009), the Vicarious Resilience Scale (VRS; Killian et al., 2017), and the Brief Resilience Scale (BRS; Smith et al., 2008). The findings revealed that vicarious trauma predicted burnout but did not predict vicarious resilience among victim service providers. Moreover, resilience did not significantly moderate the relationships of vicarious trauma with burnout and vicarious resilience. An independent samples t-test showed that female victim service providers reported higher vicarious trauma than their male counterparts, whereas male victim service providers reported higher burnout and vicarious resilience. These findings may inform researchers, clinicians, policymakers and organizational leaders. In particular, resilience-focused interventions and structured support programs may help alleviate the impact of vicarious trauma and foster healthier work environments among victim service providers.