Interpersonal consequences of secondary traumatic stress: Sexual harassment among therapists treating perpetrators and survivors of sexual assault

Research on Secondary Traumatic Stress (STS) has only recently begun to explore the differences in symptom manifestation, expression, and amelioration between professionals who provide psychological treatment to the perpetrators of sexual assault and professionals who provide psychological treatment to survivors of sexual assault. The purpose of this study was to further add to the elucidation of these differences. This study tested the hypothesis that, relative to male professionals with STS treating sexual assault survivors, male professionals with STS treating the perpetrators of sexual assault would be more likely to sexually harass female co-workers. This assumption was based on the results of a pilot study involving professionals treating civilly committed male sex offenders, wherein all female staff participants (n=8) had directly experienced or witnessed sexual harassment by male colleagues. The present study tested the factors hypothesized to influence the expression of sexual harassment among sexual assault perpetrator therapists. The hypothesized factors included: (1) contextual exposure to interpersonal aggression; (2) skewed male gender ratio in the workplace; (3) harboring of negative sexist attitudes; (4) tolerance of harassment by female victims; (5) neglect of the need to process aversive emotions in clinical supervision; and (6) sensation seeking proclivity. A multi-instrument questionnaire packet, including the Secondary Trauma Questionnaire, Modern Sexism Scale, Sexual Experiences Questionnaire-Revised, Sensation Seeking Scale-V, and additional work experiences questions, was mailed to various treatment agencies, distributed to mental health staff, completed and returned by voluntary participants to the research investigators. Participants included 99 male and female mental health professionals treating incarcerated male sex offenders, male and female survivors of sexual assault, and a residential substance abuse population. STS and sexual harassment were not found to be more prevalent among the sexual assault perpetrator treatment providers relative to the survivor treatment providers. Significant results included greater satisfaction with supervision among male sexual assault perpetrator treatment providers, and higher prevalence of a sensation seeking trait among substance abuse treatment providers. Although this study failed to support the original hypotheses, it called attention to the interest in clarifying the intrapersonal and interpersonal effects of STS among professionals treating the perpetrators of sexual assault.