Social workers confront terrorist victims: The interventions and the difficulties

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Social Work
• Trauma Studies

Background:

• Social workers experience significant unremitting stress when assisting terror victims.
• The establishment of hospital information centers is crucial for victim identification and family support.

Purpose of the Study:

• To describe the activities of social workers managing information centers for terror victims.
• To elaborate on the processes of managing uncertainty, anxiety, delivering bad news, and providing solutions.
• To emphasize the importance of team dynamics and mutual support in mitigating distress.

Main Methods:

• Qualitative description of social workers' roles and activities.
• Analysis of support systems, role exchange, and shared experiences within teams.
• Identification of personal and collective signs of distress.

Main Results:

• Social workers play a key role in information dissemination, victim identification, and family assistance.
• Effective management of uncertainty and anxiety is critical.
• Multifaceted team collaboration and support are vital for resilience.
• Teams are adept at recognizing signs of distress, including compassion fatigue, guilt, anxiety, depression, and burnout.

Conclusions:

• The study highlights the critical need for robust support systems for social workers in trauma care.
• Proposed organizational and clinical solutions can benefit other health system frameworks.
• Addressing compassion fatigue and burnout is essential for sustained social work practice in crisis situations.