Secondary traumatic stress in a sample of Lebanese mental health workers responding to the Beirut blast

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate the effect of age, gender and personal history of trauma on Secondary Traumatic Stress (STS) symptoms among mental health workers in Lebanon who assisted the victims of the Beirut blast. 18 months after the traumatic event, 32 social workers and 16 psychologists (N = 48 volunteers) were surveyed using the Secondary Traumatic Stress scale in order to assess the severity of their secondary trauma symptoms and studying their relation to age, gender and personal history of trauma. The measures that were used included a Demographic Questionnaire and the Secondary Traumatic Stress scale. The findings showed that mental health workers who work with traumatized clients were at risk of experiencing STS. Moreover, the main result of this study indicated that age predicted STS symptoms; younger mental health workers scored higher (M= 45.55) on STS scale than the older mental health workers (M= 31.33). The results of the research study suggest that the mental health workers are bound to suffer from STS symptoms, but younger mental health workers, who are rather more likely to suffer from symptoms PTSD and trauma than their older counterparts were more prone to the development of Secondary Traumatic Stress due to the Beirut explosion. The results from the independent t-tests that addressed gender and history of trauma were not statistically significant. Future studies are encouraged to give a broader attention to how mental health workers are impacted by secondary traumatic stress especially younger mental health workers. Also, they are encouraged to discover the best prevention and intervention methods to deal with secondary traumatic stress symptoms prior and after a disaster strikes.