Trauma Counsellors’ Quality of Life

Personal trauma history and secondary traumatic stress in mental health professionals: A systematic review

INTRODUCTION

Caring for those who have been traumatized can place mental health professionals at risk of secondary traumatic stress, particularly in those with their own experience of personal trauma.

AIM

To identify the prevalence of personal trauma history and secondary traumatic stress in mental health professionals and whether there is an association between these two variables in mental health professionals.

METHOD

We preregistered the review with PROSPERO (CRD42022322939) and followed PRISMA guidelines. Medline, Embase, PsycINFO, Web of Science and CINHAL were searched up until 17th August 2023. Articles were included if they assessed both personal trauma history and secondary traumatic stress in mental health professionals. Data on the prevalence and association between these variables were extracted. Quality assessment of included studies was conducted using an adapted form of the Newcastle-Ottawa scale.

RESULTS

A total of 23 studies were included. Prevalence of personal trauma history ranged from 19%-81%, secondary traumatic stress ranged from 19% to 70%. Eighteen studies reported on the association between personal trauma history and secondary traumatic stress, with 14 out of 18 studies finding a statistically significant positive relationship between these variables. The majority of studies were of fair methodological quality.

DISCUSSION

Mental health professionals with a personal history of trauma are at heightened risk of suffering from secondary traumatic stress.

IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE

Targeted support should be provided to professionals to prevent and/or address secondary traumatic stress in the workforce.

The Relationship Between Secondary Traumatic Stress and Compassion Satisfaction: A Systematic Literature Review

This systematic literature review examines the relationship between secondary traumatic stress (STS) and compassion satisfaction (CS) to identify the state of the science and directions for future research. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis framework was used to guide the identification and evaluation of studies. Eight academic databases were systematically searched between July and December of 2022 to identify articles and dissertations published in English or Hebrew between 2000 and 2022. Studies were considered for inclusion if they examined the relationship between STS and CS and met an established quality threshold. If studies used a mixed methods approach, only quantitative results were included in the review. The search strategy yielded 537 studies with 33 included in the final review. Findings of this review suggest experiences of high levels of STS can coexist with high levels of CS indicating that people can gain satisfaction from their work and experience STS. Most studies examined the relationship between STS and CS using bivariate analyses with variability found in the direction of the relationship. This variability was also found in multivariate studies included in this review. These findings suggest the need for interventions to address both STS and CS with attention paid to the potential negative impact of emotional contagion and the vulnerability of younger female practitioners. Future research should pay attention to the rigor of the analysis of STS and CS and the exploration of mediating or moderating mechanisms between these constructs.

Psychological Effects of Professional Exposure to Trauma and Human Suffering: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Over the past decades, a growing interest has emerged toward understanding the impact that the exposure to human suffering produces in mental health professionals, leading to the identification of three constructs: vicarious traumatization (VT), compassion fatigue (CF), and secondary trauma (ST). However, little is known about how these conditions affect psychologists. A systematic review and a meta-analysis were conducted to examine the evidence about the effects of occupational exposure to trauma and suffering in studies that included psychologists among their samples. Fifty-two studies were included comprising 10,233 participants. Overall, the results showed that most professionals did not experience relevant distress due to their work, yet some of them developed clinically significant symptoms (i.e., PTSD). However, solid conclusions could not be drawn due to the numerous methodological difficulties found in this research field (i.e., group heterogeneity, lack of comparison groups, and conceptual overlap). Thus, it is necessary to further investigate this topic with scientific rigor to understand these stressors and develop evidence-based interventions.

Racial Justice Activist Burnout of Women of Color in the United States: Practical Tools for Counselor Intervention

The pervasive racially hostile climate in society can bring severe mental health ramifications, such as burnout, to racial justice activists. For women of color (WOC), intersecting identities presents additional challenges. Due to the significant psychological impact burnout can have on WOC activists, counselors need the knowledge and tools to address this mental health issue. This article aims to provide counselors with a guide to working with WOC racial justice activists in the United States by outlining challenges faced by this population, health and mental health effects of burnout, and counseling interventions.

Professional quality of life and intent to leave the workforce: Gender disparities in child welfare

BACKGROUND

Efforts to enhance professional quality of life (ProQOL) may prove a promising area for intervention to reducing workforce jettison and maintaining a healthy and resilient workforce necessary for supporting children and families in the child welfare system.

OBJECTIVE

The current study aimed to describe the relative contributions of measures of ProQOL to intent on leaving the workforce among child welfare professionals. We also aimed to describe gender differences in ProQOL, intent to leave, and associated correlations among child welfare professionals. Such an investigation is a critical extension of earlier efforts as women constitute a markedly larger proportion of the workforce compared to men and evidence exists pointing to gender disparities in helping professionals' work experiences.

PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING

Secondary data were used from a survey of child welfare professionals across five sites.

METHODS

Univariate and bivariate statistics, hierarchical linear regression, and associated z-scores and p-values were used to meet the aforementioned aims.

RESULTS

Burnout accounted for the greatest variation in intent to leave among all professionals. However, gender disparities were found for all ProQOL measures with the largest difference observed for burnout, an effect more pronounced in males. Compassion satisfaction was significantly higher among females.

CONCLUSIONS

Burnout shapes intentions to leave for child welfare professionals; however, the effects of emotional exhaustion and hopelessness are stronger predictors of turnover among male than females in the current sample. Organizational strategies to reduce burnout and future research directions are discussed.

Can psychosocial work factors influence psychologists' positive mental health?

BACKGROUND

Working in healthcare can entail intense emotional demands that increases susceptibility to occupational risk factors. Psychosocial risk assessment can contribute to promoting awareness of the effects of work on positive mental health.

AIMS

To explore and analyse the influence of psychosocial work factors on positive mental health among psychologists.

METHODS

A cross-sectional study of 339 psychologists was conducted. Two instruments were used for data collection: the Mental Health Continuum-Short Form (MHC-SF) to assess well-being and the Health and Work Survey (INSAT) to assess psychosocial work factors.

RESULTS

This study identified psychosocial work factors that affect psychologists' positive mental health, namely, emotional well-being was affected by 'Need help from colleagues' (β = -1.091), 'Have no one I can trust' (β = -1.253) and 'Complex work' (β = 0.751); psychological well-being was affected by 'Intense work pace' (β = 1.151), 'Not able to participate in decisions' (β = -3.695) and 'Complex work' (β = 1.520); and social well-being was affected by 'Always changing roles and tasks' (β = -1.810) and 'Not able to participate in decisions' (β = -2.470).

CONCLUSIONS

Psychosocial work factors such as work organization, work relationships and emotional demands influence psychologists' positive mental health. Social support at the workplace and having challenging and autonomous work can promote mental health. It is important to develop better organizational practices to promote mental health and well-being among these professionals.

Therapist mindfulness and subjective vitality: the role of psychological wellbeing and compassion satisfaction

BACKGROUND

Mindfulness and vitality are related constructs in the literature; however, mindfulness and vitality have not been fully examined in the literature, specifically with mental health therapists.

AIMS

This study aimed to investigate the relationship between mindfulness and vitality among a sample of licensed mental health clinicians. Compassion satisfaction (CS) and psychological wellbeing are further explored as mechanisms by which a therapist may experience vitality and the impact mindfulness may have on these mechanisms.

METHODS

Mediation analyses were utilized to understand the relationship between mindfulness and vitality and the indirect paths of psychological wellbeing and CS.

RESULTS

Results indicate that therapists with greater mindfulness report more vitality, higher overall psychological wellbeing and higher CS. As expected, the relationship between mindfulness and vitality was mediated by psychological wellbeing and CS. Results support the existing research on the relationship between mindfulness and vitality.

CONCLUSIONS

Understanding the importance of psychological wellbeing and CS has implications for addressing the high incidences of the negative impact of therapeutic work.