Secondary Traumatic Stress, Level of Exposure, Empathy and Social Support in Trauma Workers

Abstract

In South Africa the incidence of violent crime is an everyday occurrence that affects the majority of the population directly and/or indirectly. Research reveals that counselling victims of violent crime may cause psychological symptoms in trauma workers, which in turn may lead to Secondary Traumatic Stress (STS). However, despite this knowledge, there appear to be very fewtrauma studies that focus on trauma workers. Furthermore there also appears to be a lack of studies that focus on the roles that key variables play in the transmission of STS. Therefore through the analysis of 64 self-report questionnaires, we aim to explore the psychological impact on trauma workers who work with 'victims' of violent crimes, specifically focusing on the level of exposure to traumatic material; level of empathy; level of perceived social support and their relation to STS. In order to test these hypotheses, analysis comprised simple statistics, correlations, a t test and a moderate multiple regression. Results indicate that the trauma workers, to some extent, experience symptoms of STS. In addition, it was found that previous exposure to traumatic material (in the personal lives of counsellors), level of empathy, and level of perceived social support have a significant relationship with STS. Social support was not found to have a moderating effect, but empathy emerged as a consistent moderator between the trauma workers' previous exposure to traumatic material and STS.

Adverse Childhood Experiences Among MSW Students

“…Given the robust and convincing data indicating the association of multiple ACEs with negative health, mental health, and quality-of-life outcomes, and research suggesting that prior trauma increases the risk for later retraumatization (MacRitchie & Leibowitz, 2010) and may compromise effective practice for human service professionals, these outcomes warrant further investigation.…”

Factors Associated with Secondary Traumatic Stress among Emergency Nurses: An Integrative Review

“…However, Empathy was investigated in the literature and few studies found connection between empathy and STS. A study by MacRitchie, and Leibowitz investigated the relationship between level of shared empathy and STS among 64 trauma workers, and reported that empathy is a significant moderator between exposure to traumatic events and STS development [39]. This connection was sustained by Sheen et al who reported that empathy was identified as a risk factor for STS in both quantitative and qualitative literature [40].…”

Social Work Values and Principles: Students' Experiences in intervention with Children and Youths in Detention

“…As discussed earlier, the crime rate in the country is high and a large number of people are victims of crime. Citizens do not feel safe (Louw, 2007) and being victims of crime and daily reminders of incidences of crime by the media contribute to feelings of traumatisation (Wardrop, 2009;MacRitchie & Leibowitz, 2010). Zastrow (2012, p. 45) refers to the ecological approach that conceptualises 'dysfunctional transactions between people and their social and physical environments'.…”

“…Offenders and specifically sex offenders may be regarded with fear and disgust (MacRitchie & Leibowitz, 2010;Olver & Barlow, 2010), often aggravated by the sensational media portrayal of offending, prisons and victims (Scott et al, 2006;Varma, 2006). Scott et al (2006) also mention attitudes about race as a factor that contributes to fear of youth offenders.…”

“…South Africans feel less safe and more insecure than people in other developing countries; either having been victims of crime or fear of becoming victims, combined with daily reminders of incidences of crime by the media, contributes to feelings of traumatisation (Louw, 2007;Wardrop, 2009;MacRitchie & Leibowitz, 2010). People in South Africa are direct or indirect victims of crime (Scho¨nteich & Louw, 2011;Bezuidenhout, 2013) and social work students are no exception, illustrated by the following remark by a female social work student aged 22: I walked back from campus.…”