Predictors of secondary traumatic stress among social workers: Supervision,income,and caseload size

Abstract

Summary

In the past 20 years, research suggests that social workers and counselors are at risk of developing secondary traumatic stress from working with traumatized client populations. However, only a few studies have examined specific risk and protective factors that may buffer the social worker from developing secondary trauma symptoms. This article reports the results from a cross-sectional survey-based study of clinical social workers in which a predictive model of secondary traumatic stress was sought. In order to obtain an optimally predictive subset of variables from a larger set of candidate variables, this study employed a rigorous variable selection procedure using criteria-based methods for arriving at a final model predicting secondary trauma.

Findings

The results suggest that the ratings of the supervisory relationship, salary, caseload size, and personal anxiety may be salient factors that impact the development of secondary trauma among clinical social workers. Specifically, positive ratings of supervision and higher income level were found to predict a substantial decrease in the degree to which a social worker possessed secondary trauma symptoms.

Applications

Secondary trauma threatens clinician health, client quality of services, and contributes to increased financial burdens to nonprofit agencies due to burnout and employee turnover. At an organizational level, administrators and policymakers can address these problems by providing higher salaries, encouraging reasonable client caseloads, and ensuring that social workers have access to skilled clinical supervisors. At an individual level, personal self-care to reduce daily anxiety may be important to protect clinical social workers from developing secondary trauma symptoms.