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. 2021 Feb;67(1):84-89.
doi: 10.1177/0020764020940742. Epub 2020 Jul 8.

Secondary Traumatization Outcomes and Associated Factors Among the Health Care Workers Exposed to the COVID-19

Selim Arpacioglu  1 , Meltem Gurler  2 , Suleyman Cakiroglu  1
Affiliations

Secondary Traumatization Outcomes and Associated Factors Among the Health Care Workers Exposed to the COVID-19

Selim Arpacioglu et al. Int J Soc Psychiatry. 2021 Feb.

Abstract

Background: Secondary traumatization exposure and mental health conditions of health care workers gained importance during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) epidemic period.

Aims: In our study, we aim to research the secondary traumatization and associated factors among health care workers.

Method: This cross-sectional study was applied through an online questionnaire using the snowball sampling method. Two hundred fifty-one health care workers from different units/services and 312 non-medical worker adults attended to the research. Health care workers were divided into two groups based on working with COVID-19 patients at the frontline or not. The data were collected via Introductory Information Form, Secondary Traumatic Stress Scale (STSS) and Patient Health Questionnaire-4 (PHQ-4) between 22 May and 30 May 2020.

Results: Among the 563 participants, 251 (44.6%) were health care workers and 312 (55.4%) were non-medical workers. The anxiety, depression and secondary traumatization scores of the frontline health care workers for the COVID-19 were found to be significantly higher than those of the other health workers or non-medical workers (p < .001). Also, we found that being a woman, being in the first years of the work, living with a parent, having a chronic disease, having a trauma history and increased social media use are related to having higher scores from the secondary traumatization scale.

Conclusion: The secondary traumatization exposure and the mental health conditions of the health care workers directly working with the COVID-19 patients should be taken into consideration. It is important to provide social support, examine and control riskier groups for mental health regularly during the pandemic.

Keywords: COVID-19; anxiety; depression; health care workers; risk factors; secondary traumatization.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest: The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship and/or publication of this article.

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