A meta-analysis of the relationship between job burnout and secondary traumatic stress among workers with indirect exposure to trauma
Date
2014
Journal Title
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Publisher
Psychological services
Abstract
The study provides a systematic review of the empirical evidence for associations between job burnout
and secondary traumatic stress (STS) among professionals working with trauma survivors, indirectly
exposed to traumatic material. Differences in the conceptualization and measurement of job burnout and
STS were assumed to moderate these associations. A systematic review of literature yielded 41 original
studies, analyzing data from a total of 8,256 workers. Meta-analysis indicated that associations between
job burnout and STS were strong (weighted r .69). Studies applying measures developed within the
compassion fatigue framework (one of the conceptualizations of job burnout and STS) showed significantly
stronger relationships between job burnout and STS, indicating a substantial overlap between
measures (weighted r .74; 55% of shared variance). Research applying other frameworks and measures
of job burnout (i.e., stressing the role of emotional exhaustion) and STS (i.e., focusing on symptoms
resembling posttraumatic stress disorder or a cognitive shift specific for vicarious trauma) showed
weaker, although still substantial associations (weighted r .58; 34% of shared variance). Significantly
stronger associations between job burnout and STS were found for: (a) studies conducted in the United
States compared to other countries; (b) studies using English-language versions of the questionnaires
compared to other-language versions, and (c) research in predominantly female samples. The results
suggest that, due to high correlations between job burnout and STS, there is a substantial likelihood that
a professional exposed to secondary trauma would report similar levels of job burnout and STS,
particularly if job burnout and STS were measured within the framework of compassion fatigue.
Description
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Keywords
secondary traumatic stress, indirect trauma, burnout, meta-analysis
Citation
Cieslak, R., Shoji, K., Douglas, A., Melville, E., Luszczynska, A., & Benight, C. C. (2014). A meta-analysis of the relationship between job burnout and secondary traumatic stress among workers with indirect exposure to trauma. Psychological services, 11(1), 75.