A survey of nurses who experienced trauma in the workplace: influence of coping strategies on traumatic stress

Abstract

Decreasing traumatic stress is a key issue for nurses who experience trauma, but trauma of nurses in the workplace has only rarely been investigated in detail. This study was designed to characterize trauma of nurses in the workplace in detail, and to make comparison of coping strategies employed by nurses who recovered from traumatic stress and those of nurses with persistent traumatic stress. A study of trauma was conducted by asking 782 nurses to complete a questionnaire. Valid responses were provided from 592 nurses. Free descriptions of trauma were analysed using the KJ method to characterize the trauma of nurses. A comparison of scores on coping subscales in the persistent trauma group and recovery group was made by the unpaired t‐test. Of the 592 nurses, 301 female nurses had experienced trauma in the workplace. The analysis revealed that 50 nurses (17 per cent) recovered from traumatic stress, while 251 (83 per cent) had persistent traumatic stress. Trauma predominantly consisted of direct exposure to violent language or non‐supportive behaviour by physicians, followed by witnessing and learning of experiences. The results suggested that ‘positive action’, ‘positive thinking’, ‘cognitive avoidance’, ‘uncontrolled thinking’ and ‘talking’ lead to persistence of traumatic stress. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Job Stressors, Coping and Resilience among Nurses in Gaza Strip

“…The meaning of resilience as perceived by first-line nurse managers included "positive thinking", "flexibility", "assuming responsibility", and "separating work and life. Such findings were consistent with study of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip which showed that Palestinians used religious factors in facing the stress and trauma, 98% said God help, 85.1% said they are proud of their achievements, and 71.55% said they had strong sense of purpose [37,38].…”

“…The results showed that trauma predominantly consisted of direct exposure to violent language or non-supportive behavior by physicians, followed by witnessing and learning of experiences. The results suggested that positive action, positive thinking', cognitive avoidance, uncontrolled thinking and talking' lead to persistence of traumatic stress [9]. Also, in another similar study the impact of occupational stress and coping strategies among emergency department (ED) nurses of China, demonstrated that 46.9% of ED nurses were in the high pressure level of occupational stresses.…”

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Among Health Care Providers Following the Israeli Attacks Against Gaza Strip in 2014: A Call for Immediate Policy Actions

“…Similarly, Weinberg and Creed (2000) added that health workers with post traumatic distress are more vulnerable to psychiatric disorders and ongoing social stress outside of work. Furthermore, the analysis of a study conducted by Niiyama et al (2009) revealed that only 17% of nurses recovered from traumatic stress while the other 83% had persistent traumatic stress. Moreover; studies showed that prevalence of PTSD is associated with burn out syndrome, which together has a great impact on work and non-work related activities and perceptions (Mealer et al, 2009).…”

Post-traumatic Stress Disorder Among Health Care Providers Two Years Following the Israeli Attacks Against Gaza Strip in August 2014: Another Call for Policy Intervention

“…Regardless that other several studies explored the prevalence of PTSD among nurses and other health workers after exposure to different types of traumas, the prevalence of PTSD among participants of this study still much higher than those reported by all of these studies. For example, prevalence of PTSD was 13.7% among nurses who had encountered patient suicide (Takahashi et al, 2011), 21% among nurses who had been exposed to verbal abuse or violence (Inoue, Tsukano, Muraoka, Kaneko, & Okamura, 2006), 64.5% among health care workers working in a high-risk units during the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) outbreak (Styra et al, 2008), 29-35% among health care providers during severe SARS (Maunder, 2004), 24-29% among ICU nurses (Mealer, Shelton, Berg, Rothbaum, & Moss, 2007), 22% among nurses (Mealer, Burnham, Goode, Rothbaum, & Moss, 2009), 20% among nurses (Battles, 2007), 51% of nurses exposed to trauma (Niiyama et al, 2009), 26.3% of deployed military healthcare officers (Hickling, Gibbons, Barnett, & Watts, 2011), 26.7% of healthcare workers (Weinberg & Creed, 2000), and 9% among health care workers deployed to combat setting (Kolkow, Spira, Morse, & Grieger, 2007).…”

“…Similarly, Weinberg and Creed (2000) added that health workers with post traumatic distress are more vulnerable to psychiatric disorders and ongoing social stress outside of work. Furthermore, the analysis of a study conducted by Niiyama et al (2009) revealed that only 17% of nurse recovered from traumatic stress while the other 83% had persistent traumatic stress. Moreover; studies showed that prevalence of PTSD is associated with burn out syndrome, which together has a great impact on work and non-work related activities and perceptions (Mealer et al, 2009).…”