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Supporting Traumatic Grief: A Qualitative Analysis of Helper’s Lived Experience

Background: Usually managed by trained volunteers, crisis helplines services are of primary importance in community care. However, literature has shown that volunteers may be exposed to a high risk of developing negative psychological consequences in relation to the service performed. Although there...

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Autores principales: De Leo, Diego, Torres, Marta, Viecelli Giannotti, Andrea, Zammarrelli, Josephine, Tassara, Laura, D’Ambros, Michela
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9738878/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36498073
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192316002
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author De Leo, Diego
Torres, Marta
Viecelli Giannotti, Andrea
Zammarrelli, Josephine
Tassara, Laura
D’Ambros, Michela
author_facet De Leo, Diego
Torres, Marta
Viecelli Giannotti, Andrea
Zammarrelli, Josephine
Tassara, Laura
D’Ambros, Michela
author_sort De Leo, Diego
collection PubMed
description Background: Usually managed by trained volunteers, crisis helplines services are of primary importance in community care. However, literature has shown that volunteers may be exposed to a high risk of developing negative psychological consequences in relation to the service performed. Although there are numerous studies dedicated to the use of helplines, evidence regarding the experiences of helpers in the context of traumatic losses is still limited. Objective: This study aimed to explore lived experiences of the operators of a crisis line supporting traumatic bereavement. Specifically, it analyzed the psychological impact of interacting with the caller, and the resources and strategies used by the operators themselves. Methods: The study considered 35 operators of the helpline provided by the Italian NGO De Leo Fund, which offers psychological support to survivors of traumatic bereavement. The inclusion criteria were: (a) currently being or having been a helper at the De Leo Fund helpline; and (b) having completed at least 10 shifts in the helpline service. Data were collected through an ad hoc questionnaire, filled online. The thematic analysis technique used Atlas.ti software 8. Results: Four thematic areas emerged from the transcription of the semi-structured interviews. These were: (a) motivation and expectations; (b) emotional and relational impact of the experience as a helper; (c) strategies adopted by operators; and (d) criticalities and strengths. Conclusions: Monitoring helpers’ emotional experiences and the impact of their work overtime emerged in a marked way. The analysis of the strategies and experiences of the operators represents a fundamental factor for the implementation of specific training programs for the management of emergency situations.
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spelling pubmed-97388782022-12-11 Supporting Traumatic Grief: A Qualitative Analysis of Helper’s Lived Experience De Leo, Diego Torres, Marta Viecelli Giannotti, Andrea Zammarrelli, Josephine Tassara, Laura D’Ambros, Michela Int J Environ Res Public Health Article Background: Usually managed by trained volunteers, crisis helplines services are of primary importance in community care. However, literature has shown that volunteers may be exposed to a high risk of developing negative psychological consequences in relation to the service performed. Although there are numerous studies dedicated to the use of helplines, evidence regarding the experiences of helpers in the context of traumatic losses is still limited. Objective: This study aimed to explore lived experiences of the operators of a crisis line supporting traumatic bereavement. Specifically, it analyzed the psychological impact of interacting with the caller, and the resources and strategies used by the operators themselves. Methods: The study considered 35 operators of the helpline provided by the Italian NGO De Leo Fund, which offers psychological support to survivors of traumatic bereavement. The inclusion criteria were: (a) currently being or having been a helper at the De Leo Fund helpline; and (b) having completed at least 10 shifts in the helpline service. Data were collected through an ad hoc questionnaire, filled online. The thematic analysis technique used Atlas.ti software 8. Results: Four thematic areas emerged from the transcription of the semi-structured interviews. These were: (a) motivation and expectations; (b) emotional and relational impact of the experience as a helper; (c) strategies adopted by operators; and (d) criticalities and strengths. Conclusions: Monitoring helpers’ emotional experiences and the impact of their work overtime emerged in a marked way. The analysis of the strategies and experiences of the operators represents a fundamental factor for the implementation of specific training programs for the management of emergency situations. MDPI 2022-11-30 /pmc/articles/PMC9738878/ /pubmed/36498073 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192316002 Text en © 2022 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
De Leo, Diego
Torres, Marta
Viecelli Giannotti, Andrea
Zammarrelli, Josephine
Tassara, Laura
D’Ambros, Michela
Supporting Traumatic Grief: A Qualitative Analysis of Helper’s Lived Experience
title Supporting Traumatic Grief: A Qualitative Analysis of Helper’s Lived Experience
title_full Supporting Traumatic Grief: A Qualitative Analysis of Helper’s Lived Experience
title_fullStr Supporting Traumatic Grief: A Qualitative Analysis of Helper’s Lived Experience
title_full_unstemmed Supporting Traumatic Grief: A Qualitative Analysis of Helper’s Lived Experience
title_short Supporting Traumatic Grief: A Qualitative Analysis of Helper’s Lived Experience
title_sort supporting traumatic grief: a qualitative analysis of helper’s lived experience
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9738878/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36498073
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192316002
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