ADAPT – Job Demands among Danish Prosecutors and Psychological Well-Being
Project description
Aim:
The aim of this PhD project is to investigate the interaction between quantitative job demands, verbal abuse, and indirect trauma exposure in the development of burnout, sickness absence, and secondary traumatization among the Danish Prosecution Service. In addition, the project aims to examine which work-related support initiatives may prevent the development of illness.
Background
Legal professionals within the Prosecution Service play a crucial role in the Danish legal system, as they are the only professionals authorized to appear in court under the Danish Criminal Code. Their work involves indirect trauma exposure, high job demands, and a conflict-filled environment in courtrooms, which increases prosecutors’ risk of developing secondary traumatization and burnout. In Denmark and internationally, only a few longitudinal studies exist on the impact of indirect trauma exposure in the workplace, and only one study has examined the association between burnout and secondary traumatization in relation to sickness absence over a one-year period.
Methods
A prospective cohort study (questionnaire survey) of prosecutors and administrative staff employed by the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions in Denmark, supplemented with company-registered sickness absence data.
Perspective
The project will contribute knowledge about the significance of emotional job demands in the form of indirect trauma exposure and negative acts for the development of burnout, secondary traumatization, and sickness absence. The project will elucidate the interaction between burnout and secondary traumatization, as well as which work-related conditions and support initiatives can prevent burnout and secondary traumatization.
Start date and expected end date: 01.01.2024 – 30.09.2027
Principal supervisor: Maria Louison Vang, Associate Professor
Co-supervisors:
Jesper Pihl-Thingvad, Associate Professor
Ask Elklit, Professor
Research group: Knowledge Centre for Psychotraumatology
Collaborating partners: Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions
Funding: Danish Working Environment Research Fund
Keywords: Prosecutors, burnout, secondary traumatization, job demands, psychological well-being
