Secondary traumatic stress among emergency nurses: Prevalence, predictors, and consequences

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Nurses working in emergency units are in direct contact with traumatic events. Trauma effects do not solely affect patients and their caregivers and, rather, extend to secondarily influence nurses themselves. Secondary exposure to trauma may result in symptoms similar to symptoms experienced by the patient themselves. No previous study investigated the secondary traumatic stress among emergency nurses in Jordan. PURPOSE: To identify prevalence, predictors, and consequences of secondary traumatic stress among nurses working in emergency departments. METHOD: A descriptive correlation design was utilized to collect data using self-report questionnaires from 202 nurses working at eight emergency departments in Jordan. FINDINGS: The study revealed that almost half of the sample reported high to severe levels of secondary traumatic stress. The analyses showed that nurses who demonstrated lower empathy (P = .016) and greater coping capacity (P < .001) tended to develop more secondary traumatic stress. Organizational factors were not significant predictors of secondary traumatic stress. CONCLUSION: A significant proportion of emergency nurses suffer secondary traumatic stress that is found also to be associated with psychical factors. Emergency nurses need to consider the consequences of secondary traumatic stress on their health and quality of care provided.

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