(2024). Doctoral Dissertations and Projects. 6085.
Global online child sex abuse and exploitation are rising due to the immense accessibility of the
internet, and it takes specially trained and devoted investigators to combat the problem.
However, combating these heinous crimes can create traumatic events for investigators, resulting
in secondary traumatic stress. This quantitative correlational study examined the psychological and
spiritual coping strategies to develop a resiliency body armor concerning Internet Crimes Against
Children Task Force personnel (ICAC-TF) working on child sexual exploitation investigations.
The theoretical framework combined the concepts of Resiliency Theory, psychology body
armor, and spiritual body armor to create resiliency body armor. The study included research
questions that addressed the potential statistical relationships between burnout and length of time
with the ICAC-TF, mental health coping methods, resiliency body armor related to secondary
traumatic stress, and the relationship between resilience and spiritual body armor when living in
a politically liberal state vs. a conservative state within the Bible Belt. The data showed that
many ICAC-TF personnel use prayer, religion, exercise, and support systems to develop
resiliency body armor to reduce and combat secondary traumatic stress. There were significant
positive relationships between mental health coping strategies and overall resiliency body armor
among ICAC-TF personnel working on child sexual exploitation investigations and between
religiosity or spirituality and resiliency among ICAC-TF personnel working on child sexual
exploitation investigations.
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