Week 1

Vicarious Traumatization

Victims of violence often go without proper trauma-informed medical-legal care because of a shortage of forensic nurses (FNs), who are often overwhelmed by vicarious traumatization (VT) and consequently leave the profession. VT can affect any professional who works with victims of violence. Since forensic nurses collaborate closely with such victims, they are at high risk of suffering from VT (Tabor, 2011). VT is defined as "…profound psychological effects, effects that can be disruptive and painful for the helper and can persist for months or years after work with a traumatized person" (McCann & Pearlman, 1990). Characteristics of VT include working with victims of violence, psychosocial symptoms, worldview changes, and negative work performance (Tabor, 2011). 

Because of the job's social and professional isolation, as well as the absence of oversight, preceptors, ongoing training, and peer support, the novice FN faces a very high risk of experiencing profound VT (Hite et al., 2022; Lombardo et al., 2024; Meyer, 2024; Newman et al., 2024). FNs experience a higher turnover rate than other nursing specialties due to the impacts of VT (Meyer, 2024; Lombardo et al., 2024). The two-year retention for FNs can be as low as 7.7%  (Meyer, 2024). Currently, there is a lack of support and resources for FNs addressing their unique professional and personal challenges (Torregosa & Benavides, 2025). Formal mentorship programs have been shown to increase employee satisfaction, boost morale, and reduce employee turnover (Djiovanis, 2023).