Secondary traumatic stress, burnout and the role of resilience in New Zealand counsellors.

Abstract

One hundred and twenty-nine New Zealand counsellors were surveyed in relation to secondary traumatic stress, burnout, compassion satisfaction, resilience, social support, degree of exposure to trauma, and personal history of trauma. Statistical analyses established the prevalence of secondary traumatic stress, burnout, and compassion satisfaction. The relationships between risk of secondary traumatic stress and exposure to others' trauma, personal trauma history, burnout, compassion satisfaction, resilience, and social support levels were explored. Results established a prevalence of 21.7% for high risk of secondary traumatic stress, 24.8% for high risk of burnout, and 21.7% for high potential for compassion satisfaction in this sample. Statistically significant relationships were found between exposure and secondary traumatic stress, between burnout and secondary traumatic stress, and between resilience and secondary traumatic stress. These results are discussed in relation to counsellors' secondary exposure to trauma when working with clients who have been traumatised. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of New Zealand Journal of Counselling is the property of New Zealand Association of Counsellors and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)