The aim of this review is to identify and critically examine existing research relating to secondary trauma and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) within UK police officers. A systematised ...literature review was conducted which identified 20 studies in police officers from Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland. These studies comprised of terrorist incidents, mass disasters, general policing duties and officers working in rape and child abuse investigations. Key themes emerged regarding understanding the impact of trauma, the influence of police culture and understanding coping mechanisms. It also found a number of methodological limitations within the studies which are likely to have impacted on the results. This review highlighted that trauma in UK policing is still not understood and there is a stigma associated with officers seeking help. Recognising the impact of trauma on police officers and how trauma has affected them is crucial to ensure an effective and compassionate workforce which delivers a better service to the public. It is hoped that this review will address gaps in existing knowledge within the literature, consider implications for practice, as well as recommendations to be taken forward in this crucial area of research.
Coping with the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is a significant risk factor for the psychological distress of health workers. Hence, this study explores the relationship between coping strategies ...used by healthcare and emergency workers in Italy to manage the stress factors related to the COVID-19 emergency, which may result in the risk of developing secondary trauma. We study differences between healthcare (
= 121) and emergency workers (
= 89) in terms of their coping strategies, emergency stress, and secondary trauma, as well as the relationships of these differences to demographic variables and other stress factors (Instructions and Equipment). For this purpose, we collected data from participants through the following questionnaires online:
,
, an original questionnaire on stressors, and the
(to assess organizational-relational, physical, decisional inefficacy, emotional, cognitive, and COVID-19 stress). We performed a
-test, correlational analysis, and hierarchical regression. The analyses reveal that compared with the emergency worker group, the health worker group has greater levels of emergency stress and arousal and is more willing to use problem-focused coping. Healthcare workers involved in the treatment of COVID-19 are exposed to a large degree of stress and could experience secondary trauma; hence, it is essential to plan prevention strategies for future pandemic situations. Moreover, individual efficacy in stopping negative emotions and thoughts could be a protective strategy against stress and secondary trauma.
The effects of COVID-19 pandemic on children have been immense.
In this commentary, we argue for the need to utilize research-practice-policy partnerships to address the issue of educator burnout and ...Secondary Traumatic Stress.
Education systems have the potential to be the site of public health interventions in helping to identify and address the needs of children and families.
In this commentary, we review the literature on child trauma and adversity, educator burnout, and research-practice-policy partnerships.
With the return to in-person learning, educators, and the systems in which they work are overwhelmed by the magnitude of mental health challenges presenting in the classroom due to child trauma. As a result, many educators are reporting high levels of compassion fatigue, secondary trauma, and burnout, which are known predictors of leaving the workforce. Many of the strategies employed to address educator compassion fatigue, secondary trauma, and burnout focus directly on the individual level (e.g., deep breathing, yoga). Yet the compassion fatigue, secondary trauma, and burnout are rooted in larger system failures to address the growing needs of children and families.
By bringing together key community members, including educators, and utilizing local data to inform policy decisions, actionable, trauma-informed solutions can create the conditions for thriving educators and therefore, thriving children.
Emergency situations have been associated with negative psychological adjustment outcomes in healthcare professionals, although studies on the impact of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) ...pandemic amongst Italian health workers are limited. The main aim of this study was to investigate the psychological adjustment of healthcare professionals during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, evaluating differences according to working or not with patients affected by COVID-19 and in areas with a more severe spread of this pandemic. Healthcare professionals' attitudes toward psychological support were analyzed. The levels of anxiety, depression, psychological stress, and professional quality of life (compassion satisfaction, burnout, and compassion fatigue) and attitudes toward psychological support were measured among 627 Italian healthcare workers (mean age = 40.55 years; SD = 11.49; range: 27-72). Significantly higher levels of stress, burnout, secondary trauma, anxiety, and depression were observed among professionals working with COVID-19 patients. Higher levels of stress and burnout and lower levels of compassion satisfaction were detected in professionals working in areas with higher rates of contagion. No interaction effects were found between working (or not) with patients affected by COVID-19 and working (or not) in areas with a more severe diffusion of this pandemic. Finally, in the group of professionals who worked with COVID-19 patients, the percentage of professionals who thought to ask for psychological support was twice that of the group that did not work with COVID-19 patients. The overall findings indicate that the mental health of frontline healthcare workers requires further consideration and that targeted prevention and intervention programs are necessary.
Abstract
The challenges of caring for children with early life adversity have been identified as contributing to feelings of compassion fatigue (CF)—an emotional disconnection resulting from repeated ...exposure to another’s trauma. Although extensive studies have focused on contributors to trauma-inducing workplace stress and well-being, research on trauma-related stress in the home, especially in adoptive parent populations, is relatively underexplored. This study aimed to understand how adoptive parents make sense of their experiences of parenting adopted children, identify core components of CF, understand parents’ perceptions of contributing factors and explore wider relational impacts. Parents were recruited from Adoption UK via email invite. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with twelve parents to form a holistic picture of adoptive parents’ experiences. Data were analysed using Reflexive Thematic Analysis. Findings yielded three overarching and interrelated themes: (i) a parent not a therapist; (ii) strained connections; and (iii) support is a mirage. Findings support recent literature highlighting the reality of CF in adoptive parents and the need to develop more preventative structures and responsive systems of support adapted to the needs of adopted children but also the unique needs of their families to help prevent mental health crises across the family and adoption breakdowns.
Adoptive parents raising children who have come from challenging and traumatic family backgrounds may experience stress levels greater than biological parents. Indirect exposure to and a lack of knowledge of their adopted child’s trauma may impact their ability to parent and lead to feelings of emotional exhaustion, burnout and disconnect from the child, also known as compassion fatigue. Many studies have explored stress and well-being at work, but there are few that discuss stress within the adoptive family home and the direct impact on parent mental health. This study focuses on the views of twelve adoptive parents and their understanding of the challenges of caring for a child with a complex life history, what these challenges look like to them and the wider impact of these. Parent narratives highlighted the ongoing struggles they face and the need for better support to prevent and respond to not only the needs of the adopted child but also the needs of the entire family to help avert parent mental health crises and possible adoption breakdowns.
Listening to trauma reports can lead to the development of symptoms associated with secondary traumatization. This is particularly relevant for psychotherapists in practice, where psychologists need ...to estabilish effective strategies for processing and coping with such emotionally challenging events. This explorative study investigated adaptive reframing strategies for future therapists listening to trauma stories compared to feeling empathy for the client. In a mixed design, 42 postgraduate psychology students were randomly instructed to objectively distance themselves, reappraise, or feel empathetic while watching a video of a presumed trauma patient reporting a single violent act. An overall ANOVA did not reveal a difference between the reframing groups and the empathy group (between subjects manipulated) in their skin conductance level and heart rate variability during the video, as well as their change in state depression and state anxiety over the three measurements (before the video, after the video, and 2 days later). Nevertheless, an explorative
-test showed a significantly weaker rise in state depression and state anxiety from before the video to after the video in the reframing groups compared to the empathy group. This supports the suggestion that reframing strategies can be discussed as a protective factor against health issues such as secondary traumatization in therapists and should be examined in further studies in more detail.
Oncology nurses have frequent contact with oncology patients during their cancer journey. This long-term, recurrent contact can impact the health and well-being of the nurse through the development ...of compassion fatigue (CF).
To identify what contributes to CF and what individual, interpersonal, and organizational factors mitigate CF among oncology nurses caring for adult patients.
A scoping review framework by Arksey and O'Malley guided this review. Electronic databases were searched for relevant studies. A blinded screening process was undertaken by the authors using the following inclusion criteria: English language published from January 2011 to December 2021, primary research peer-reviewed studies, and focusing on CF within oncology nurses caring for adult patients in any practice setting.
Nineteen studies (21 articles) were identified. The review found nurses' personal beliefs around nursing care being provided, and personality traits of psychological inflexibility, neuroticism, passive coping, and avoidance contributed to CF. Workplace conflict and lack of a healthy work-life balance also contributed to CF. However, nurses' personal resilience, ability to positively reflect upon their work, a supportive team environment, and continuing education were found to mitigate CF.
Levels of CF vary among oncology nurses caring for adult patients. Oncology nurses may benefit from personal and organizational resources aimed at improving oncology nurses' professional quality of life while decreasing CF.
Consideration and future research of effective interventions are needed to sustain a future health workforce and mitigate CF among oncology nurses.
The purpose of this study is to measure posttraumatic stress, grief, burnout, and secondary trauma experienced by employed social workers in the United States and to describe organizational support ...provided to social workers during the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. This study used data from the first wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic and Emotional Well-Being Study, a prospective panel study examining the psychological impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, and includes a sample of 181 social workers. We conducted univariate analyses. Over a quarter (26.21%) of social workers met the diagnostic criteria for PTSD and 16.22% reported severe grief symptoms. While 99.19% of the sample reported average to high compassion satisfaction, 63.71% reported average burnout and 49.59% reported average secondary trauma. Findings indicate that social workers are reporting higher than national estimates of PTSD, indicating a greater need for more emotional support during the COVID-19 pandemic. Given the significance and severity of the pandemic, it is essential that organizations provide resources for both immediate and ongoing support for the emotional well-being of their employees.
Child welfare workers are routinely exposed to multiple traumatic events when working with children and families, and are at an increased risk of experiencing burnout and secondary trauma. Self-care ...is often recommended as a restorative or protective activity against the negative effects of working with traumatized individuals, although few studies have examined the benefit of self-care empirically. Trauma-informed self-care (TISC) includes being aware of one's own emotional experience in response to exposure to traumatized clients and planning/engaging in positive coping strategies, such as seeking supervision, attending trainings on secondary trauma, working within a team, balancing caseloads, and work–life balance. Compared with generic personal care activities, TISC is likely to be especially relevant for child welfare workers. This study examined the role of TISC on compassion satisfaction, burnout and secondary trauma which was assessed by administering surveys to a sample of 104 child welfare case managers and supervisors. Almost one third of the sample reported high levels of burnout (29.8%) and secondary trauma (28.8%), and low levels of compassion satisfaction (31.7%). Results suggested that workers who engaged in higher levels of TISC experienced higher levels of compassion satisfaction and lower levels of burnout, although there was no relationship with secondary trauma. Findings provide preliminary evidence that TISC may be a beneficial practice to reduce risk of burnout and preserve workers' positive experience of their job, however workers experiencing secondary trauma are likely to need additional specialized intervention to assist them with their recovery.
•There are few empirical studies on the protective nature of self-care.•Trauma-informed self-care is relevant for child welfare workers.•Trauma-informed self-care was related to higher levels of compassion satisfaction.•Increased trauma-informed self-care predicted lower burnout, not secondary trauma.
The COVID-19 pandemic significantly impacted the mental, emotional and psychological health of Frontline nurses. This study examines the impact of fear of COVID-19 on nurses' turnover intention, ...secondary trauma, and psychological distress. Additionally, we explore the possible moderating variable, i.e., leadership support that may compensate for the negative impact of fear of COVID-19 on the nurses' turnover intention, secondary trauma, and psychological distress. Initially, 700 nurses were contacted; however, the response of 380 nurses was received. It is found that fear of COVID-19 significantly affects nurses mental health. We concluded that hospital administrations should support, encourage and motivate Frontline nurses to reduce negative emotional and mental health issues.
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