Secondary traumatic stress (STS), symptomatology resulting from indirect exposure to trauma, is one potential negative affect from engaging in clinical social work. Burnout among social workers has been extensively studied, presenting high correlations between the social work profession and burnout syndromes, which are most frequently caused by it being a high-stress occupation [25,26,27]. Secondary traumatic stress, or STS, is the emotional pressure that occurs when people hear about another person's traumatic experiences. Cleary M., Kornhaber R., Thapa D.K., West S., Visentin D. The effectiveness of interventions to improve resilience among health professionals: A systematic review. Compassion fatigue, which can inhibit a providers ability to empathize with and support clients. For example, Itzick and Kagan (2017) explored the negative outcomes of intentions to leave in child welfare social workers practicing in Israel. Hazards of our helping profession: A practical self-care model for community practice. Significant low to medium positive associations were found between all the dependent variables, except for staying healthy. You can see extracts or tasters of other CC Inform resources here. Resilience at work will be positively associated with compassion satisfaction and negatively associated with burnout and secondary trauma. PTSD itself is an anxiety disorder which can be traced directly to an original trauma which a person has either experienced or been exposed to, or in which that person has been directly involved. St Jude's Church, Dulwich Road, Herne Hill, London SE24 0PB, a company registered in England and Wales no. This study examined the rate of secondary traumatic stress (STS) among social work students and the contribution of background variables, personal resources (mastery and self-differentiation) and environmental resources (supervision satisfaction and peer support) to STS. Subsequently, it is important to explore how the risk of secondary traumatic stress may contribute to significant distress and impairment in clinical social workers. Providers with a personal history of trauma must identify their triggers, decide whether they can confidently work with populations that may activate those triggers, and be mindful of the role secondary trauma plays in their relationship with clients. More years of work experience were negatively correlated with STS in a sample of child protection workers (Dagan et al., 2016) and inversely associated with child welfare workers reports of their intentions to leave their jobs (Itzick & Kagan, 2017). The purpose of this paper was to explore the effects of trauma exposure through clinical social workers jobs on their STS and self-reports of functional impairment. Compassion satisfaction can protect from stress, burnout, and secondary trauma [36,37,38]. Social Workers during COVID-19: Do Coping Strategies Differentially Mediate the Relationship between Job Demand and Psychological Distress? Talking to team members or a clinical supervisor on a regular basis. years of work experience, professional exposure to child abuse, mastery) and environmental factors (i.e. Informed consent was obtained from all subjects involved in the study. The .gov means its official. You can also enquire about new subscriptions. For example, Staudt and Williams [42] (2019) found that members of a child advocacy interdisciplinary team expressed lower levels of secondary trauma and burnout and had higher levels of compassion satisfaction. Mental health care workers/social workers. Senreich E., Straussner S.L.A., Steen J. Available online: Ben-Ezra M., Hamama-Raz Y. Barsky A. Although social workers are at risk of secondary trauma and burnout as a negative reaction to their work, they can also experience compassion satisfaction. Compassion fatigue as secondary traumatic stress disorder: An overview In Figley CR (Ed.). Schwartz-Tayri T.M. A social worker in a community health clinic continually watches clients die of, A rape crisis counselor sees numerous rape survivors dismissed, disbelieved, or. Instead, STS mediated the association between trauma exposure and distress and impairment. [39] (2020) assessed 6112 social workers from 13 different states in the United States and found that nearly 60% of them reported high levels of compassion satisfaction. A structural equation model demonstrating good model fit indicated that STS mediated the association between trauma exposure at work and reports of significant distress and impairment ( = .08, p < .01; 95% CI = .03, .12). Social workers can suffer secondary or vicarious trauma, which may trigger burnout, stymie their ability to support clients, and trigger chronic mental health issues. It happens when a person faces continuous exposure to trauma. Table 3 presents the correlations between the study variables. Secondary trauma is experienced indirectly through hearing details or witnessing the aftermath of a trauma experienced by another person. First, trauma exposure through social work practice was examined using a confirmatory factor analysis. These findings can be used by agencies and supervisors in considering the affects of trauma work on their employees, and point to the need for holistic interventions in agencies employing clinical social workers. The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the Common sources of secondary trauma in social services include: . Resource loss, resource gain, and emotional outcomes among inner city women. Sanchez Caravaca F.S., Carrin J.T., Pastor E.S. Craig C.D., Sprang G. Compassion satisfaction, compassion fatigue, and burnout in a national sample of trauma treatment therapists. This may substantially impact their resilience at work and levels of burnout, partly resulting from secondary trauma. To meet this risk, some of the organizations temporarily ceased to provide services or, alternatively, used distant communication, but these solutions were found to impact the service effectiveness negatively [12]. Pereira J.A., Barkham M., Kellett S., Saxon D. The role of practitioner resilience and mindfulness in effective practice: A practice-based feasibility study. This can lead to secondary trauma. These findings were significant at the p < .001 level, and indicated that STS mediated the association between trauma exposure and distress and impairment in social, occupational, familial, sexual, psychological, emotional, and physical functioning (all seven FISTS domains measured). Treatment methodologies were required to adapt to new concerns of the clients, such as anxiety concerning the virus, rising unemployment rates, heightened financial difficulties, and, most noted, loneliness. Dagan S.W., Ben-Porat A., Itzhaky H. Child protection workers dealing with child abuse: The contribution of personal, social and organizational resources to secondary traumatization. These measures include better work conditions, higher availability of resources, and extended budgets [9,10]. Secondary traumatic stress and Texas social workers. Although implemented in communities worldwide, great diversity can be identified concerning the types of practices adopted, the varied organizations in which it operates, the target populations, the services provided, and the types of interventions that are commonly used (Arazi et al., 2020) [1]. Some tactics that may help include: Clinicians who worry they are experiencing vicarious or secondary trauma may find support in therapy. The STSS is a 17-item tool initially developed to measure the negative effects of social work practice in traumatized populations. Examining self-care as a moderator of secondary traumatic stress and functional impairment in clinical social workers. Secondary Traumatic Stress (STS) impacts many individuals in the mental health field and as of 2013 the prevalence rates for STS amongst different professions is as follows: 15.2% among social workers, 16.3% in oncology staff, 19% in substance abuse counselors, 32.8% in emergency nurses, 34% . Travis DJ, Lizano EL, & Mor Barak ME (2016). Interestingly, years of experience was not significantly associated with STS or distress and impairment, although the association was negative, which is consistent with previous findings (e.g., Dagan et al., 2016). The STSS has demonstrated excellent construct validity and reliability (Bride et al., 2004) and demonstrated good internal consistency for the present sample ( = .91). Social workers have reported being unable to provide services as expected according to their ethical codes, agency policy, or regulations, most especially due to varied restrictions [6,14]. Dalton, Lisa Ellen. While eating a few unhealthy meals or having a few drinks could be a momentary form of self-care, if further developed into an unhealthy habit this could affect workers health, stress, and potential of developing secondary trauma over time. Since exposure to traumatic material may be normative for workers, a better understanding of the role of STS is needed to ensure workforce sustainability. One method of evaluation could be to use Sprang et al.s (2018) assessment measuring whether agencies are secondary traumatic stress-informed. (n.d.). As the COVID-19 pandemic still challenges most societies and, furthermore, additional adversities (both human-made or those resulting from climate change or other natural events) are expected, policymakers should consider ways to integrate ongoing mechanisms that will enhance the resilience at work of all therapeutic professionals, including those of social workers. Not surprisingly, burnout demonstrated significantly low to medium negative correlations with the overall RAW score. In order to identify the predictors of each of the dependent variables, we first conducted a log transformation using SPSS with conversion. Health Serv. Spearman coefficient correlation between all dependent variables (n = 332). If you have a licence through your employer or institution, you might also find the links below particularly useful at this time. Conversely, women tended to have higher levels of secondary trauma compared to males. Trauma exposure was measured with four items designed to tap different aspects of social workers indirect trauma exposure through their work. These seven items showed excellent internal consistency for the present sample ( = .95). A negative association was identified between compassion satisfaction and burnout, as well as between compassion satisfaction and secondary trauma. the contents by NLM or the National Institutes of Health. The purpose of this paper was to explore STS in a national sample of clinical social workers (N = 539). The internal reliability of the general score was = 0.78, burnout = 0.79, secondary trauma = 0.82, and compassion satisfaction = 0.86. Since then, four waves of the pandemic occurred, resulting in the morbidity of 1,354,001 confirmed cases and 8230 deaths (MoH, 2021, updated 17 December 2021). Bethesda, MD 20894, Web Policies This study found that STS mediated the association between secondary trauma exposure through social work and functional distress and impairment. Abrams L., Dettlaff A. Voices from the frontlines: Social workers confront the covid19 pandemic. Previous studies identify a positive link between personal trauma history and secondary trauma (Bride et al., 2007; Hensel, Ruiz, Finney, & Dewa, 2015; Ivicic, & Motta, 2017; Sprang, Ford, Kerig, & Bride, 2018). Alternatively called secondary trauma, secondary traumatic stress (STS), or vicarious trauma, compassion fatigue is an overwhelming mental and physical exhaustion brought on by feeling the pain, stress, and other emotions of the people they are helping. All rights reserved. The majority of the sample was female (N = 433; 80.5%), Caucasian (N =493; 91.5%), had an average of 27.60 years of practice experience (SD = 7.66; range = 0-45 years), and an average of 21.14 years working with trauma through their clinical work (SD = 10.27; range = 0-43 years). Publisher's Disclaimer: This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. Among clinical social workers working with children at risk and in danger, the main causes of secondary traumatic stress were identified as the suffering, commitment, and emotional. It is a novel experience for all social workers, regardless of their years of experience. With a passion for psychology, I am extremely driven and hardworking, with an interest in gaining more research and applied experience in the field before . We will be in contact shortly. The Secondary Traumatic Stress Scale (STSS) is the most widely used instrument for assessing the effects of secondary exposure to trauma. The COVID-19 pandemic presented a great challenge to many professionals who needed to maintain direct contact with other individuals, amongst them social workers [2]. For example, a social worker with a history of domestic violence may experience secondary trauma when counseling domestic violence survivors. Taken together, a holistic approach is needed to decrease STS and distress and impairment. Secondary trauma is a traumatized reaction to another persons experience. The guide includes: In the introduction, Goossen emphasises that social workers are continuing their normal work and more throughout a unique crisis, and are having to manage first-hand secondary trauma that arises from the events of the last year, particularly the increased incidences of abuse, poverty, and mental illness. A limitation of the STSS, as well as other extant measures of STS, is that it does not capture the distress and impairment (Criterion E) that may result from the aforementioned symptoms (Sprang, Ford, Kerig, & Bride, 2018). Social and psychological resources and adaptation. Brown M.E. Personal and professional factors of child welfare workers have been explored in the literature focused on STS. The study was conducted quantitatively among social workers in Israel in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic from May to June 2020, which was during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. The percentage of caseload with whom trauma was addressed was positively and significantly associated with STS (r = .14, p < .01) and distress and impairment (r = .18, p < .01). This risk is similar to other frontline workers, such as physicians and nurses, who were found to have a higher risk for mental health problems compared to the general population due to their exposure to COVID-19 patients [18]. HHS Vulnerability Disclosure, Help Psychometric properties of the secondary traumatic stress-informed organizational assessment. Res. An example of the burnout category is: I am not as productive at work because I am losing sleep over traumatic experience of people I help; for the secondary trauma category: I am preoccupied with more than one person [I help]; and an example for the compassion satisfaction category is: I get satisfaction from being able to help people. The ProQOL scale was used in Israel in a study with educational counselors [53]. All the aforementioned studies used the secondary traumatic stress scale questionnaire [22], which includes 17 items, measuring intrusion, avoidance, and arousal symptoms associated with indirect exposure to traumatic events. The contribution of the quality of therapists personal lives to the development of the working alliance. The current study could not compare those in social welfare with the rest of the sample, as only 5.8% (n = 31) of the sample reported working in child and family welfare. Social workers during the COVID-19 pandemic are at risk due to exposure to varied populations in need, which may impact their resilience, burnout, secondary trauma, and compassion satisfaction. Correlates of secondary traumatic stress in child protective services workers. When analyzing the varied components of the RAW, a diverse picture emerges. Additionally, the social workers STSS scores, years of experience in social work, whether they had experienced trauma in childhood or adulthood, the percentage of their caseload with children under age 13, and the percentage of their caseload with adolescents aged 13-17 were included as exogenous variables in the model. For example, the importance of self-care in preventing STS has been addressed across the literature (Lee & Miller, 2013; Miller, Lianekhammy, Pope, Lee, & Grise-Owens, 2017). This research received no external funding. Instead, agencies must look to innovative approaches and evaluate areas for growth in decreasing STS and distress and increasing workplace resiliency. Nearly half the sample reported being personally exposed to trauma during their childhood (N = 251; 46.6%) and more reported personal exposure as adults (N = 321; 59.6%). Hobfoll S.E. In a qualitative study conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic in California, in which 34 Masters students of the Social Work Program were interviewed, most of the respondents expressed themes related to secondary trauma in their workplace [24]. The aim of this study was to determine Secondary Traumatic Stress (STS) indicators in a group of medical personnel, considering occupational load, job . Recap Professionals within direct service fields are often subject to secondary trauma, but there are ways to work through it. While longevity in the field of child welfare may involve other risks, research indicates that increased time in the field is inversely associated with STS. Available online: Truell R. News from Our SocietiesIFSW: COVID-19: The Struggle, Success and Expansion of Social WorkReflections on the Professions Global Response, 5 Months On. This study examined STS and related factors of empathetic behavior and trauma caseload among a purposive sample of 190 social workers and psychologists. During COVID-19, social workers provided services not only to individuals who were under their care prior to the pandemic but also to a large range of previously unknown populations who were substantially affected by its restrictions. The use of convenience sampling does not enable us to make generalizations of the results of the study to the overall social work population due to the possibility of bias and the under- or over-representation of specific groups of social workers. A bootstrapped analysis using 1,000 draws was computed in Mplus to test for indirect effects from trauma exposure to distress and impairment through STS. Furthermore, the national and global collaboration to contain the COVID-19 pandemic may have served as psychological capital, raising hope, optimism, and resilience, which contributed to protecting social workers from the stressors of the pandemic [31]. It has been suggested that resilience at work and compassion satisfaction are personal resources (the perception of the individuals that they are able to manage complex situations successfully) and, therefore, contribute toward lower levels of burnout and secondary trauma [44,45]. 11, p < .05) and in adulthood ( = .05, p = .098) were positively and significantly associated with distress and impairment. In all three linear regressions, higher purpose in life resulted in lower rates of vicarious trauma ( F (3, 263)=10.364, p< .001), secondary traumatic stress ( F (3, 263)=16.548, p< .001), and burnout ( F (3, 263)= 23.912, p< .001) when controlling for number of hours worked per week and years of . sharing sensitive information, make sure youre on a federal Research has only recently considered how STS may lead to additional negative outcomes, over and above the symptoms of STS. The expansion of the target populations that they had to serve, in conjunction with the personal and professional challenges caused by the pandemic, led to increased stress [11,14]. Difficulty talking about or identifying emotions. The extant literature supports an increase in distress, impairment, and unhealthy habits due to child welfare workers exposure to stress and trauma, and their STS, through their work. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the levels of stress and burnout increased for varied reasons, including work-related conditions [32]. Regression analysis; dependent variable: compassion satisfaction, R2 = 0.583, p < 0.001. As a library, NLM provides access to scientific literature. Inclusion in an NLM database does not imply endorsement of, or agreement with, Equally, there has never been a more important time to practice self-care and self-compassion. Yet, little is known about the relationship between STS and workers' distress and impairment due to their work. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/, https://brookdale.jdc.org.il/en/publication/the-professional-status-of-social-workers-international-review/, http://socialserviceworkforce.org/resources/blog/social-service-workers-mitigating-impact-COVID-19, https://www.who.int/health-topics/coronavirus#tab=tab_1, https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.470.313&rep=rep1&type=pdf. to thank all social workers and care staff for the incredible work that you continue to do and help you look after your own wellbeing when under extra strain. Raftery C., Lewis E., Cardona M. The crucial role of nurses and social workers in initiating end-of-life communication to reduce overtreatment in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. ; and, finally, (3) Resilience at work (RAW)a tool developed by Winwood et al. Results from the SEM indicated that the latent construct of trauma exposure through work with trauma clients was positively and significantly associated with STS ( = .17, p < .001) but was not significantly associated with distress and impairment. Received 2022 Feb 24; Accepted 2022 Apr 25. and B.A. As the guide says, organisations must acknowledge the impact of the work on their staff and provide education, support, and a safe working environment to support staff to work more effectively. The average compassion satisfaction score was very close to the 50th percentile (M = 48.25); the mean scores for burnout (M = 30.18) and secondary trauma (M = 26.27) were below the 25th percentile (43 and 42, respectively). These included the elderly, people with health risks, and wide groups that were negatively affected by the resulting economic crises [3,4,5]. Child Abuse Negl. ; investigation, A.R. Seasoned social workers could provide structured yet informal support for new clinicians. Im so stressed!: A longitudinal model of stress, burnout, and engagement among social workers in child welfare settings. The Professional Quality of Life Scale: Compassion Satisfaction, Burnout, and Compassion Fatigue/Secondary Trauma Scales. Sample items include, for example, I felt emotionally numb, and I had trouble sleeping. The STSS was designed to measure the core DSM-IV-TR (APA, 2000) criteria for PTSD. Similarly, during the COVID-19 pandemic, 99% of the social workers that were assessed reported a high level of compassion satisfaction [23]. To test whether each distress and impairment item was associated with STS or trauma exposure, a separate model was conducted testing all seven of the distress and impairment items. Danilovich M., Norrick C., Lessem R., Milstein L., Briggs N., Berman R. Responding to COVID-19: Lessons Learned from a Senior Living and Social Service Organization. Rural social work: Recruitment, job satisfaction, burnout, and turnover. Secondary Traumatic Stress (STS). The symptoms of burnout can be presented as emotional (depression, compassion fatigue, and secondary trauma) or physical exhaustion (varied health conditions or illnesses). The social workers themselves face a joint changing of reality with their clients and the uncertainty of the stressful situation, which may complicate their capacity to provide a calm and reassuring atmosphere. Careers, Unable to load your collection due to an error. It could be that some participants may have modified their work setting over time in order to decrease their trauma exposure from their work setting. Despite an extensive literature review, no additional studies on this subject were found. Considering their importance, it is imperative that social workers be part of the overall response to varied types of emergencies. While many report satisfaction with their work, clinicians working in child welfare are at risk of developing secondary traumatic stress as a consequence of their work (STS; Bride, Jones, & Macmaster, 2007; Dagan, Ben-Porat, & Itzhaky, 2016; Sprang, Craig, & Clark, 2011). Trauma exposure through work was not directly associated with distress and impairment. and B.A. Work with young children will be positively and significantly associated with STS and distress and impairment. As delineated, emotional and physical work experience and conditions can lead to burnout and secondary trauma but, in contrast, may also result in compassion satisfaction [37,40]. This may explain the finding that, despite the stressors of the COVID-19 pandemic, the overall mean level of resilience at work among the social workers was found to be medium. These workers also reported higher levels of fear that they would be subjected to violence through their work, pointing to unique factors of child welfare work that may heighten workers risks for trauma and secondary trauma (Itzick & Kagan, 2017). 10 level, the finding for childhood trauma history was significant at the p < .01 level. 3. A convenience sample of 332 social workers (291 women (87.6%)) filled out an online, structured questionnaire that included demographics, a professional quality of life scale (ProQOL) (including three subscales), and resilience at work (RAW) (including seven subscales). Instead, STS acts as a mechanism of trauma transmission from social workers employment experiences to their reports of significant distress or impairment in personal, interpersonal, and professional life domains. Studies link the type of professional work and development of STS, with child welfare workers reporting higher levels of STS than social welfare workers in healthcare or general practice (Itzick & Kagan, 2017; Sprang, Craig, & Clark, 2011). 1 Those who work in helping professions (e.g., social workers, professional counsellors, first responders, and police officers) and the loved ones of trauma survivors are at a greater risk of experiencing seco. It is possible that social workers working with traumatized children or clients with a childhood trauma history may be reminded of their own child trauma history, contributing to heightened levels of distress and impairment across multiple (e.g., personal, professional, interpersonal, etc.) See Table 4, Table 5, Table 6 and Table 7. In contrast to the previous findings, seniority (number of years in the workplace) in social work during the COVID-19 pandemic was not found to predict RAW and burnout [67,68]. The social services workforce in general, and social workers in particular, provide crucial services during COVID-19 for diverse populations, including children, people with disabilities, the elderly, and more. The analysis revealed that high levels of compassion satisfaction, low levels of secondary trauma, high levels of contentment, and having a managerial position predicted 40% of the overall score of resilience at work. While this finding could apply to many helping professionals, a comparison of child welfare workers and health care social workers in Israel found that child welfare workers reported significantly higher intentions to leave than health care social workers (Itzick & Kagan, 2017). Due to the lower response rate (29.4%) and mailed survey recruitment method, the findings from this study cannot be generalized across all social workers. Sprang G, Ford J, Kerig P, & Bride B (2018). Predicting Factors of Secondary Traumatization: Comparison Between Domestic Violence Therapists and Welfare Bureau Therapists. Secondary traumatic stress, distress and impairment, clinical social workers. Almost 70% of the social workers considered applying for psychotherapy due to COVID-19 [35]. Careers, Unable to load your collection due to an error.
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