Vicarious Victimization: An Overview of Prevelance, Predictors, Symptoms and Outcomes

Abstract

Conversations around vicarious trauma, secondary traumatic stress, burnout, compassion fatigue and/or vicarious victimization have taken place in victim service provider occupations since the 1990s. Overall, the focus has primarily been retroactive and hypothetical in nature, which fails to address how, why, and to what degree these phenomena affect individuals who regularly work with victimized people. Current literature in this area focuses on four key categories: 1) prevalence of the problem, 2) predictors, 3) symptoms and medicalization, and 4) outcomes/interventions. The purpose of examining hundreds of articles in each of these areas was to produce an Oxford bibliography. This document will serve as a comprehensive overview of the research and aid in future researcher’s exploration of where innovation is most needed.