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Trauma assessment in outpatient psychotherapy and associations with psychotherapist's gender, own traumatic events, length of work experience, and theoretical orientation

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Trauma assessment in outpatient psychotherapy and associations with psychotherapist's gender, own traumatic events, length of work experience, and theoretical orientation. / Lueders, Juliane; Sander, Christian; Leonhard, Anya; Schäfer, Ingo; Speerforck, Sven; Schomerus, Georg.

In: EUR J PSYCHOTRAUMATO, Vol. 13, No. 1, 2029043, 2022.

Research output: SCORING: Contribution to journal › SCORING: Journal article › Research › peer-review

Harvard

Lueders, J, Sander, C, Leonhard, A, Schäfer, I, Speerforck, S & Schomerus, G 2022, 'Trauma assessment in outpatient psychotherapy and associations with psychotherapist's gender, own traumatic events, length of work experience, and theoretical orientation', EUR J PSYCHOTRAUMATO, vol. 13, no. 1, 2029043. https://doi.org/10.1080/20008198.2022.2029043

APA

Lueders, J., Sander, C., Leonhard, A., Schäfer, I., Speerforck, S., & Schomerus, G. (2022). Trauma assessment in outpatient psychotherapy and associations with psychotherapist's gender, own traumatic events, length of work experience, and theoretical orientation. EUR J PSYCHOTRAUMATO, 13(1), [2029043]. https://doi.org/10.1080/20008198.2022.2029043

Vancouver

Lueders J, Sander C, Leonhard A, Schäfer I, Speerforck S, Schomerus G. Trauma assessment in outpatient psychotherapy and associations with psychotherapist's gender, own traumatic events, length of work experience, and theoretical orientation. EUR J PSYCHOTRAUMATO. 2022;13(1). 2029043. https://doi.org/10.1080/20008198.2022.2029043

Bibtex

@article{60d42cc6ea3d4ea38b4a752540bc7340,
title = "Trauma assessment in outpatient psychotherapy and associations with psychotherapist's gender, own traumatic events, length of work experience, and theoretical orientation",
abstract = "BACKGROUND: Traumatic events are strongly associated with mental health problems. At present, traumatic events and trauma-specific needs are commonly underdetected in therapeutic settings. Many mental health professionals lack key competencies for trauma inquiry and treatment.OBJECTIVE: In this study, we aimed to investigate the everyday practices of dealing with traumatic events in outpatient psychotherapy in Germany as well as the influence of the therapist's gender, own traumatic events, length of professional experience, and theoretical orientation.METHOD: A total of 148 outpatient psychotherapists completed a purpose-designed online questionnaire. Therapists rated barriers and attitudes towards trauma assessment, possible requirements for enquiring about trauma, and practical aspects of trauma assessment.RESULTS: Barriers reported in previous studies, e.g. fear of offending the patient or exacerbating their psychological state, could not be confirmed in our sample. Overall, participating therapists felt confident in engaging with traumatic events and considered enquiring about trauma important in all patients. Group differences were found for therapist's gender, own traumatic events, length of work experience, and theoretical orientation.CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that trauma training lowers barriers and raises therapists' self-confidence in dealing with patients´ traumatic experiences. Therapists' characteristics effecting trauma assessment should be considered during training. Due to the increasing demand for psychotherapy, especially considering people with severe mental illness affected by traumatic events, trauma training should be obligatory for all mental health professionals.",
keywords = "Health Personnel/psychology, Humans, Mental Disorders/therapy, Outpatients, Psychotherapists, Psychotherapy/methods",
author = "Juliane Lueders and Christian Sander and Anya Leonhard and Ingo Sch{\"a}fer and Sven Speerforck and Georg Schomerus",
note = "{\textcopyright} 2022 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.",
year = "2022",
doi = "10.1080/20008198.2022.2029043",
language = "English",
volume = "13",
journal = "EUR J PSYCHOTRAUMATO",
issn = "2000-8198",
publisher = "Co-Action Publishing",
number = "1",

}

RIS

TY - JOUR

T1 - Trauma assessment in outpatient psychotherapy and associations with psychotherapist's gender, own traumatic events, length of work experience, and theoretical orientation

AU - Lueders, Juliane

AU - Sander, Christian

AU - Leonhard, Anya

AU - Schäfer, Ingo

AU - Speerforck, Sven

AU - Schomerus, Georg

N1 - © 2022 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

PY - 2022

Y1 - 2022

N2 - BACKGROUND: Traumatic events are strongly associated with mental health problems. At present, traumatic events and trauma-specific needs are commonly underdetected in therapeutic settings. Many mental health professionals lack key competencies for trauma inquiry and treatment.OBJECTIVE: In this study, we aimed to investigate the everyday practices of dealing with traumatic events in outpatient psychotherapy in Germany as well as the influence of the therapist's gender, own traumatic events, length of professional experience, and theoretical orientation.METHOD: A total of 148 outpatient psychotherapists completed a purpose-designed online questionnaire. Therapists rated barriers and attitudes towards trauma assessment, possible requirements for enquiring about trauma, and practical aspects of trauma assessment.RESULTS: Barriers reported in previous studies, e.g. fear of offending the patient or exacerbating their psychological state, could not be confirmed in our sample. Overall, participating therapists felt confident in engaging with traumatic events and considered enquiring about trauma important in all patients. Group differences were found for therapist's gender, own traumatic events, length of work experience, and theoretical orientation.CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that trauma training lowers barriers and raises therapists' self-confidence in dealing with patients´ traumatic experiences. Therapists' characteristics effecting trauma assessment should be considered during training. Due to the increasing demand for psychotherapy, especially considering people with severe mental illness affected by traumatic events, trauma training should be obligatory for all mental health professionals.

AB - BACKGROUND: Traumatic events are strongly associated with mental health problems. At present, traumatic events and trauma-specific needs are commonly underdetected in therapeutic settings. Many mental health professionals lack key competencies for trauma inquiry and treatment.OBJECTIVE: In this study, we aimed to investigate the everyday practices of dealing with traumatic events in outpatient psychotherapy in Germany as well as the influence of the therapist's gender, own traumatic events, length of professional experience, and theoretical orientation.METHOD: A total of 148 outpatient psychotherapists completed a purpose-designed online questionnaire. Therapists rated barriers and attitudes towards trauma assessment, possible requirements for enquiring about trauma, and practical aspects of trauma assessment.RESULTS: Barriers reported in previous studies, e.g. fear of offending the patient or exacerbating their psychological state, could not be confirmed in our sample. Overall, participating therapists felt confident in engaging with traumatic events and considered enquiring about trauma important in all patients. Group differences were found for therapist's gender, own traumatic events, length of work experience, and theoretical orientation.CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that trauma training lowers barriers and raises therapists' self-confidence in dealing with patients´ traumatic experiences. Therapists' characteristics effecting trauma assessment should be considered during training. Due to the increasing demand for psychotherapy, especially considering people with severe mental illness affected by traumatic events, trauma training should be obligatory for all mental health professionals.

KW - Health Personnel/psychology

KW - Humans

KW - Mental Disorders/therapy

KW - Outpatients

KW - Psychotherapists

KW - Psychotherapy/methods

U2 - 10.1080/20008198.2022.2029043

DO - 10.1080/20008198.2022.2029043

M3 - SCORING: Journal article

C2 - 35251528

VL - 13

JO - EUR J PSYCHOTRAUMATO

JF - EUR J PSYCHOTRAUMATO

SN - 2000-8198

IS - 1

M1 - 2029043

ER -