Alternative Title

Secondary traumatic stress and compassion satisfaction among providers who work with children and families who have experienced trauma

Publication Date

2017

First Advisor

Shella Dennery

Document Type

Masters Thesis

Study Type

Quantitative

Degree Name

Master of Social Work

Department

School for Social Work

Keywords

Secondary traumatic stress, Compassion, Social work-Job stress, Burn out (Psychology)

Abstract

The field of social work education has witnessed a soaring need to help providers cope with the negative emotional impact of working with clients who have experienced trauma. This study explored the association between self compassion and the experience of burn out (BO), secondary traumatic stress (STS) and compassion satisfaction (CS) among mental health providers who specifically work with children and youth who have experienced trauma. This quantitative study employed a survey in addition to two open-ended questions in a sample of 60 participants using a convenience sampling process.

The findings suggest that self compassion serves as a strongly correlated concept when examining providers’ level of BO, STS and CS. Specifically, the more self compassion one is, the less BO and STS one experiences in one’s work with children and families who have experienced trauma. In order to minimize BO and STS and maximize CS, programs and individuals should stress the importance of self compassion by strengthening the six sub constructs of self compassion with the understanding of its varied presentations among differences in gender, income level, ethnic group and working hours.

Rights

©Binlin Xia

Language

English

Comments

iv, 76 pages. Includes bibliographical references (pages 57-60)

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