PROPOSAL OF A CONCEPTUAL MODEL OF VICARIOUS TRAUMA APPLIED TO HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGEMENT: THE CASE OF EMPLOYMENT COUNSELING

Abstract

This article deals with the issue of suffering at work
by contagion. Our study considers the specific case
of employment counseling, which induces to be in
close contact with traumatized people and requires
a strong empathy. To do so, we have transposed
in the HR field, the medical concept of vicarious
traumatization. This allows us to build a conceptual
model presenting how the counselor suffers from
its relationship with people traumatized by professional shocks and in what extent he or she can cope.
This model is based on a qualitative case study of 23
counselors coming from 13 different organizations.
More precisely, we relied on the Gioia’s methodology
(Corley et Gioia, 2004; Gioia et al., 2013). For that
reason, this approach constitutes a methodological
contribution of this research. Furthermore, we show
theoretically that the existence (or the absence) of a
vicarious traumatization depends on three variables
(the traumatic material, the counselor’s posture and
the protective rails). Their combination allows to
interpret the specific experience of each counselor.