Who Will Save the Savior? The Relationship between Therapists' Secondary Traumatic Stress, Secondary Stress Self-Efficacy, and Attitudes toward Trauma-Informed Care

• Published in: Behavioral sciences 2023-12, Vol.13 (12), p.1012
• Main Authors: Miller Itay, Miriam Rivka, Turliuc, Maria Nicoleta
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adverse childhood experiences; Attitudes; Mediation; Mental health; Post traumatic stress disorder; preschool children; Professionals; Quality of life; secondary traumatic self-efficacy; Secondary traumatic stress; Social workers; Stress (Psychology); Supervisors; Therapists; Trauma; trauma-informed care
• ISSN: 2076-328X; 2076-328X
• DOI: 10.3390/bs13121012

Therapists who treat traumatized preschool children are vulnerable to secondary traumatic stress. This study investigates the relationship between therapists' attitudes toward trauma-informed care (TIC) and risk of secondary traumatic stress, with secondary traumatic self-efficacy as a mediating variable. Participants included Israeli social workers ( = 101) in preschool trauma frameworks, with 97.2% following trauma-informed care principles. The questionnaire combined three instruments: attitudes related to TIC (ARTIC), secondary traumatic stress (STS), and secondary traumatic stress efficacy (STSE). Therapists with less positive attitudes toward trauma-informed care showed higher levels of secondary traumatic stress ( [99] = -0.23, = 0.019), while more positive attitudes predicted higher levels of secondary traumatic stress efficacy ( [99] = 40, < 0.001). Secondary traumatic self-efficacy mediated the relationship between attitudes toward trauma-informed care and secondary traumatic stress (z = 2.72, = 0.006). Therapists' secondary traumatic stress may be reduced by improving positive attitudes toward trauma-informed care and enhancing their secondary traumatic self-efficacy.