Compassion satisfaction, burnout, and secondary traumatic stress in UK therapists who work with adult trauma clients

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Therapists who work with trauma clients are impacted both positively and negatively. However, most studies have tended to focus on the negative impact of the work, the quantitative evidence has been inconsistent, and the research has primarily been conducted outside the United Kingdom. OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to assess the prevalence of, and identify predictor variables for, compassion satisfaction, burnout, and secondary traumatic stress in a group of UK therapists (N=253) working with adult trauma clients. METHOD: An online questionnaire was developed which used The Professional Quality of Life Scale (Version 5) to assess compassion satisfaction, burnout, and secondary traumatic stress and collect demographics and other pertinent information. RESULTS: Whilst the majority of therapists scored within the average range for compassion satisfaction and burnout, 70% of scores indicated that therapists were at high risk of secondary traumatic stress. Maturity, time spent engaging in research and development activities, a higher perceived supportiveness of management, and supervision predicted higher potential for compassion satisfaction. Youth and a lower perceived supportiveness of management predicted higher risk of burnout. A higher risk of secondary traumatic stress was predicted in therapists engaging in more individual supervision and self-care activities, as well as those who had a personal trauma history. CONCLUSIONS: UK therapists working with trauma clients are at high risk of being negatively impacted by their work, obtaining scores which suggest a risk of developing secondary traumatic stress. Of particular note was that exposure to trauma stories did not significantly predict secondary traumatic stress scores as suggested by theory. However, the negative impact of working with trauma clients was balanced by the potential for a positive outcome from trauma work as a majority indicated an average potential for compassion satisfaction.