Effects of Patient Trauma on Hospital Staff Functioning: An Exploratory Study of Psychological Distress Resulting from Trauma Exposure

<p>The present study attempted to determine the relationship between exposure to traumatic experiences of hospitalized children and adolescents and the development of secondary traumatic stress, also known as compassion fatigue, vicarious traumatization, or burnout in clinical staff working with such patients. Hierarchical regression was used to test the hypotheses that: clinical treatment staff will experience higher levels of psychological distress following exposure to patient trauma and previous lifetime trauma events; clinical treatment staff will experience quality of patient relationships associated with the degree of exposure to patient trauma, previous lifetime or work-related trauma history, and level of supervisor support; clinical treatment staff will experience a quality of professional relationships associated with the degree of exposure to patient trauma, previous lifetime or work-related trauma history, and level of supervisor support; clinical treatment staff will experience a quality of self relationship associated with the degree of exposure to patient trauma, previous lifetime or work-related trauma history, and level of supervisor support. Measures included a demographic and previous lifetime trauma events survey developed for this study, a Hospital Trauma Scale also developed for this study, the Compassion Fatigue Self-test, the Maslach Burnout Inventory - Human Services Survey (Emotional Exhaustion subscale), and the Supervisor Support Scale. Results indicated a positive relationship between the development of psychological distress, as evidenced by Compassion Fatigue and Emotional Exhaustion, and exposure to patient trauma and traumatic life events. Additionally, after the effects of education and experience in domains of care were entered, the contribution of degree of hospital trauma experienced contributed significantly to the occurrence of Compassion Fatigue and Emotional Exhaustion. The degree of supervisor support, as measured by the Supervisor Support Scale, did not produce a mediating influence relative to the occurrence of Compassion Fatigue or Burnout. The other findings of interest were that Education played a significant role in the occurrence of Compassion Fatigue and Emotional Exhaustion, as did External Support Sought. Specifically, higher education and external support sought for work-related stress were associated with lower levels of Compassion Fatigue and Emotional Exhaustion.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Year dc:date.available

2010

Author dc:creator

• Braley, Randy Allen

Contributors dc:contributor

• Patrick Sherry, Ph.D.
• Roger Salters
• Kathy Green
• Barbara Vollmer

• Hospital-based
• Life time events
• Patients
• Trauma exposure
• Experimental Analysis of Behavior
• Medicine and Health Sciences
• Psychology

Statement dc:rights

• <p>Copyright is held by the author. User is responsible for all copyright compliance.</p>

Language dc:language

en

Repository record dc:identifier

https://digitalcommons.du.edu/etd/767

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:digitalcommons.du.edu:etd-1766