Secondary Traumatic Stress: Relationship With Symptoms, Exhaustion, and Emotions Among Cemetery Workers

Navigating the Shadows of Others' Traumas: An In-Depth Examination of Secondary Traumatic Stress and Psychological Distress among Rescue Professionals

Rescue workers, who often find themselves on the frontlines of traumatic events, face an increased risk of experiencing secondary traumatic stress (STS) and psychological distress (PD). The nature of their work, alongside professional factors, can influence the way these psychological aspects manifest and their level of severity. This study aimed to explore the relationship between STS and PD in rescue workers. Additionally, it sought to understand how factors such as age, years of experience, duration of work, training received and direct exposure to trauma explain significant variations in reporting to STS. To conduct this research, a cross-sectional study design was implemented involving a sample of 80 rescue workers from the Punjab province in Pakistan. Data was collected over eight weeks using the secondary traumatic stress scale (STSS-17) and the general health questionnaire (GHQ-12) as primary assessment tools. Participants' data was analyzed through Pearson correlation analysis, t-tests, and ANOVA. A strong positive correlation between STS and PD among rescue workers was established. Age significantly explains variation in scores, with older workers displaying reduced STS and PD symptoms. Rescue workers working for longer hours reported elevated STS compared to those working shorter shifts. Workers with more extended professional experience showcased lower STS, highlighting the potential resilience acquired over time. The study also underscored the importance of training duration: longer, well-structured training was associated with decreased STS and PD. Interestingly, longer exposure to trauma was found to be related to lower STS scores, albeit this warrants further investigation. This study underscores the intertwined nature of STS and PD among rescue workers and the various modulating factors. The study paves the way for more comprehensive research, expanding geographically and demographically.

Secondary traumatic stress and work ability in death care workers: The moderating role of vicarious posttraumatic growth

Death care work consists of dealing with traumatic events frequently, if not daily. This type of exposure is considered characteristic of the profession and can lead to significant negative consequences such as secondary traumatic stress. However, sometimes positive changes can occur as a result of experiencing trauma, which is referred to as vicarious posttraumatic growth. The aim of the present study is to investigate the role of vicarious posttraumatic growth (VPTG) in the relationship between secondary traumatic stress (STS) and work ability (WA) in a sample of 231 death care workers in northern Italy. Regression analysis with interaction was performed using PROCESS. The results showed a negative association between STS and WA and a positive association between VPTG and WA. The interaction between STS and VPTG was also statistically significant. The moderating role of VPTG was partially confirmed by the analysis: at low and moderate VPTG levels, the conditional effect was negative and statistically significant, while at high VPTG, STS exposure had no significant and negative effect on WA, as if VPTG had some kind of protective role against STS. These results provide new insights into the role of VPTG in work environments with daily trauma exposure, such as death care.

Exploring the health of child protection workers: A call to action

Background: This exploratory study determined if a relationship exists between secondary traumatic stress (STS) related to health status, health outcomes, and health practices among child protection workers in a Southern state. Methods: This study used a cross-sectional survey research design that included a non-probability sample of child protection workers (N=196). Data were collected face-to-face and online between April 2018 and November 2019 from multiple county agencies. A self-administered questionnaire was completed focused on various health behaviors, outcomes, and workplace perceptions. Results: Results of the zero-order correlations suggest that higher levels of STS were significantly associated with not having visited a doctor for a routine checkup (r=-0.17, P=0.04), more trips to see a doctor (r=0.16, P=0.01), and increased number of visits to emergency room (ER) (r=0.20, P=0.01). Lower levels of STS were associated with better self-rated health (SRH) (r=-0.32, P≤0.001), higher perceptions of health promotion at work (r=-0.29, P≤0.001), frequent exercise (r=-0.21, P=0.01), and by avoiding salt (r=-0.20, P≤0.031). T-test results suggest that workers who did not have children (µ=45.85, SD=14.02, P=0.01) and non-Hispanic white workers (µ=51.79, SD=11.62, P≤0.001) reported significantly higher STS levels than workers who had children (µ=39.73, SD=14.58) and self-identified as Black (µ=39.01, SD=14.38). Conclusion: Findings show that increased interpersonal trauma was linked to unhealthy eating, general physical health problems, and health care utilization. If not addressed, both STS and poor health and health outcomes can have unfavorable employee outcomes, such as poor service delivery.

Causal Model Analysis of Police Officers' COVID-19 Fear, Resistance to Organizational Change Effect on Emotional Exhaustion and Insomnia

Since the end of 2019, COVID-19 has continued to spread around the world. The police have performed various epidemic prevention and routine duties. This study explores how police officers' COVID-19 fear, resistance to organizational change, intolerance of uncertainty, and secondary trauma affect emotional exhaustion and insomnia in the context of COVID-19. A total of 205 valid police samples were collected in this study, and the established hypotheses were tested using confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling. The results of the study confirmed that during the COVID-19 outbreak, secondary trauma of police officers positively affects emotional exhaustion and insomnia; intolerance of uncertainty positively affects emotional exhaustion; resistance to organizational change positively affects intolerance of uncertainty and emotional exhaustion; intolerance of uncertainty mediates the relationship between resistance to organizational change and emotional exhaustion; COVID-19 fear positively influences secondary trauma.

Depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation in nurses with and without symptoms of secondary traumatic stress during the COVID-19 outbreak

BACKGROUND

Nurses tend to experience a lot of Secondary Traumatic Stress (STS) during the outbreak of the COVID-19. This study aimed to evaluate the prevalence of STS and comparing depression, anxiety, and Suicidal Ideation (SI) in nurses with and without STS symptoms during the COVID-19 outbreak.

METHOD

The research method of this study was descriptive-comparative. The statistical sample consisted of 315 nurses working in hospitals of Malayer city, western Iran, selected through census method. Data were collected using the STS Scale, Beck's Depression Inventory (BDI-13), Anxiety Inventory (BAI), and SI scale. Data were analyzed using the independent t-test, multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA), and multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA).

RESULTS

This study showed that 161 nurses (51.11%) had symptoms of STS. The prevalence of STS symptoms in nurses in emergency, ICU/CCU, medical emergencies, and other wards was 62.27%, 62.02%, 51.61%, and 26.32%, respectively. The results of the MANCOVA showed that the nurses with STS symptoms received higher scores in depression, anxiety, and SI than the ones without STS symptoms (p < 0.01).

CONCLUSION

Hospital authorities and nursing psychiatrists should pay more attention to the STS symptoms in nurses during the COVID-19 outbreak, and its effects on depression, anxiety, and SI.

Funeral and Mortuary Operators: The Role of Stigma, Incivility, Work Meaningfulness and Work-Family Relation to Explain Occupational Burnout

The funeral and mortuary sector, including funeral homes, cemeteries and crematoria, is a largely neglected sector in regard to the study of occupational factors that can affect the quality of working life. The present study aimed at overcoming this gap by investigating job demands and resources that may affect burnout levels. Data were collected through a self-report questionnaire involving funeral industry employees (N = 229) from cemetery, morgues, crematoria and funeral agencies in a Northern Italian region. The survey was cross-sectional and non-randomized. Results reveal that among job demands, stigma consciousness, supervisor incivility and work-to-family negative spillover significantly affect levels of burnout, whereas meaningfulness of work and family-to-work positive spillover may represent relevant resources to counter the onset of burnout. The results of this study contribute to new insights into the psychosocial working conditions that affect occupational wellbeing among the funeral industry sector by also giving insight into how to promote resources to prevent burnout.

The Mediating Role of Insomnia and Exhaustion in the Relationship between Secondary Traumatic Stress and Mental Health Complaints among Frontline Medical Staff during the COVID-19 Pandemic

The outbreak of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) brought significant psychological implications for healthcare professionals. We aimed to investigate the serial mediation effect of insomnia and exhaustion in the relationship between secondary traumatic stress (STS) and mental health complaints among the frontline healthcare professionals during the COVID-19 pandemic. In this cross-sectional study, 126 frontline healthcare workers from Romania completed validated surveys between March and April 2020. PROCESS macros were used to test the proposed hypotheses of the three-path mediation model. We computed the models for insomnia as the first mediator (M1) and exhaustion (M2) as our second mediator. STS was significantly related to insomnia. Insomnia was significantly related to exhaustion, and STS was positively related to exhaustion. In the third model, exhaustion was strongly and positively related to mental health complaints. The total indirect effect was positive, and the sequential indirect impact of STS on mental health complaints via both mediators in series (insomnia and exhaustion) was significant. Secondary traumatic stress had a positive direct effect on mental health complaints. In our limited sample, the results show that frontline medical staff during the COVID-19 outbreak have high STS, which are related to mental health complaints through insomnia and exhaustion.

Secondary Traumatic Stress in Italian Police Officers: The Role of Job Demands and Job Resources

Police officers are among the workers most exposed to acute or chronic stressful events, which compromises their psychosocial well-being and physical health. Exposure to traumatic events, human suffering, problematic situations and episodes of violence can cause psychological damage and lead to the development of secondary traumatic stress. The aim of this research is to explore the effect of job demands and job resources on secondary traumatic stress in police officers. To better understand this phenomenon and its consequences in this population, police officers were compared with health care professionals working as first responders. An ad hoc questionnaire was administered to 112 and 286 health care professionals. The findings showed that compared with health care workers, police officers suffer from secondary traumatic stress to a greater extent. Moreover, the results showed that some police officers suffered more than health care professionals regarding certain consequences of secondary traumatic stress, such as negative emotions and burnout. This study suggests implications and offers insights for both police officers and the organizations in which they work: police officer organizations should contribute to preventing the phenomenon of secondary traumatic stress by proposing programs that implement resilience training and adaptive coping strategies.

Trauma during humanitarian work: the effects on intimacy, wellbeing and PTSD-symptoms

Background: Organizations assisting refugees are over burdened with the Syrian humanitarian catastrophe and encounter diverse difficulties facing the consequences of this massive displacement. Aid-workers experience the horrors of war through their efforts to alleviate suffering of Syrian refugees. Objective: This study of Syrian refugee aid-workers in Jordan examined work-stressors identified as secondary traumatic stress (STS), number of refugees assisted, worker feelings towards the organization, and their associations to PTSD-symptoms, wellbeing and intimacy. It also examined whether self-differentiation, physical health, and physical pain were associated with these variables. Method: Syrian refugee aid-workers (N = 317) in Jordan's NGOs were surveyed. Univariate statistics and structural equation modeling (SEM) were utilized to test study hypotheses. Results: Increased STS was associated with lower self-differentiation, decreased physical health and increased physical pain, as well as elevated PTSD-symptoms and decreased intimacy. Decreased connection to the NGO was associated with lower self-differentiation, decreased physical health, increased physical pain, and with decreased intimacy and wellbeing. Lower self-differentiation was associated with increased PTSD-symptoms, decreased wellbeing and intimacy. Elevated physical pain was associated with increased PTSD-symptoms, and decreased wellbeing. Diverse mediation effects of physical health, physical pain and self-differentiation were found among the study's variables. Conclusions: Aid-workers who assist refugees were at risk of physical and mental sequelae as well as suffering from degraded self-differentiation, intimacy and wellbeing. Organizations need to develop prevention policies and tailor interventions to better support their aid-workers while operating in such stressful fieldwork.