Religiosity and secondary traumatic stress in Israeli-Jewish body handlers

Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms, Burn-Out, and Compassion Satisfaction Among Body Handlers: The Mediating Role of Sense of Coherence and Spirituality at Workplace

This study assessed posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS), burn-out (BO), and compassion satisfaction (CS) among Israeli body handlers. We aimed to explore differences between two groups of Orthodox Jewish male volunteers: the "ZAKA" body handlers (ZAs: n = 102), and a comparison group of charity workers (CWs: n = 101). Furthermore, we assessed the contribution of two potential resilience buffers-sense of coherence (SOC) and spirituality at the workplace (SAW)-to PTSS, BO, and CS among these volunteers via self-report measures. Surprisingly, results show that ZAs reported significantly lower levels of PTSS and BO as compared with CWs. ZAs also reported significantly higher levels of CS as compared with CWs. Importantly, SOC mediated the link between groups and PTSS and BO. Both SOC and SAW mediated the link between groups and CS. These findings suggest that "ZAKA" body handlers demonstrate substantial resilience following repeated exposure to death and atrocities. To reduce work-related psychological distress and improve CS, SOC and SAW should be taken into account in the process of recruitment and training of body handlers.

Positive and negative psychological impact after secondary exposure to politically motivated violence among body handlers and rehabilitation workers

The positive and negative psychological impact of secondary exposure to politically motivated violence was examined among body handlers and hospital rehabilitation workers, 2 groups that differed in their proximity and immediacy to violent events. Survivors of politically motivated violence served as a comparison group. Body handlers experienced high levels of positive psychological impact and traumatic stress symptoms. Levels of positive psychological impact among on-scene body handlers were higher than those experienced by rehabilitation workers. Traumatic stress symptoms predicted positive psychological impact among body handlers. These findings indicate that proximity to stressors is associated with higher levels of positive and negative psychological impact. Physical proximity is a major contributory factor to both positive and negative psychological effects of secondary exposure to trauma.

Mental health of recently resettled refugees from the Middle East in Sweden: the impact of pre-resettlement trauma, resettlement stress and capacity to handle stress

The pathways to symptoms of common mental disorder and post-traumatic stress symptoms among refugees during resettlement need to be better specified. We aim to identify models of these different mental health outcomes among refugees during resettlement, taking pre-migration, migration and post-migration stress conditions, a person's capacity to handle such stress and socio-demographic variables into consideration. A new questionnaire developed to better cover resettlement stress, as well as pre-resettlement trauma exposures and different measures of a person's capacity to handle stress, was administered to 124 Middle Eastern refugees that had been granted permanent residency in Sweden only a few months before responding. We found four dimensions of resettlement stress: social and economic strain, alienation, discrimination and status loss and violence and threats in Sweden, that account for 62% of the total variance in resettlement stress. Social and economic strain and alienation are important for explaining symptoms of common mental disorder. In the model of core post-traumatic stress symptoms, pre-resettlement trauma exposure seems to have the strongest impact. A person's capacity to handle stress plays significant, direct and mediating roles in both models. The impact of resettlement stressors in the context of the whole migration process for different mental health outcomes is discussed.