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A Multiple Case Study of Rape Victim Advocates' Self‐Care Routines: The Influence of Organizational Context
Author(s) -
Wasco Sharon M.,
Campbell Rebecca,
Clark Marcia
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
american journal of community psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.113
H-Index - 112
eISSN - 1573-2770
pISSN - 0091-0562
DOI - 10.1023/a:1016377416597
Subject(s) - psychology , health psychology , outreach , social psychology , social support , context (archaeology) , cognition , qualitative research , applied psychology , clinical psychology , nursing , public health , medicine , psychiatry , sociology , paleontology , social science , political science , law , biology
This study assumes that rape victim advocates who provide community outreach services to victimized women must adjust to a heightened awareness of sexual violence to do their jobs. Using qualitative methodology, this multiple case study explored rape victim advocates' strategies for incorporating repeated exposure to sexual assault into their daily lives as well as ways that organizations can support such endeavors. Findings suggest that advocates' self‐care routines draw upon various personal resources (i.e., cognitive, physical, social, spiritual, verbal), and serve 2 roles for coping with rape‐related pain: (a) cathartic releasing of traumatic material, and (b) improving capacity to integrate the traumatic material into one's life. Additionally, over 20 organizational characteristics that workers perceive to be supportive (e.g., weekly meetings, flexible hours) were identified. Nonparametric and categorical statistical analyses were used to analyze the relationship between organizational support and self‐care routines, finding that advocates working in organizations with higher levels of support utilize more strategies that are integrative in nature. Implications of these findings are discussed.