Mind your mind? Mental resilience among forensic social professionals

Experiencing aggression, continuous tensions and the confrontation with shocking life-events are characteristics of working in the forensic field. It has a huge impact on the mental resilience of forensic social professionals.

The research is about the impact of forensic work on the psychosocial well-being of forensic social professionals. It focuses on which risk and protective factors play a role on mental resilience and in what way better alignment can be achieved between the needs of professionals and organizations to strengthen mental resilience.

"Insights into the mental resilience of forensic social professionals is necessary in order to provide adequate care for the (future) professionals, who execute this essential work in order to protect society."

With this research we want to gain insight into the personal characteristics of the professional, such as emotional stability or attitudes, to be able to perform this kind of work adequately, while maintaining job satisfaction and mental health.

A survey and in-depth interviews will gain insight into the needs of forensic social professionals to remain mentally resilient. A quantitative longitudinal study will be conducted at ‘De Forensische Zorgspecialisten’ by submitting a set of validated questionnaires every six months.

Based on the insights, guidelines can be estimated for concrete interventions ready to be applied directly in practice. Examples include a methodology description aimed to increase mental resilience, a factsheet and infographics.