Title: 
Headings: Secondary Traumatic Stress Overview
Secondary
 
Traumatic
 
Stress
 
Overview
 

Definitions:
 

Common
 
Sources
 
of
 
Secondary
 
Traumatic
 
Stress:
 

Statistics:
 

How
 
to
 
recognize
 
it?
 

Affects:
 

Prevention:
  

Methods:
 

Current
 
Practices:
 


Content: Signs
 
of
 
STS
 
can
 
include: fatigue
 
or
 
illness,
 
cynicism,
 
irritability,
 
reduced
 
productivity,
 
feelings
 
of
 
hopelessness,
 
anger,
 
despair,
 
sadness,
 
feelings
 
of
 
re-experiencing
 
of
 
the
 
event,
 
nightmares,
 
anxiety,
 
avoidance
 
of
 
people
 
or
 
activities,
 
or
 
persistent
 
anger
 
and
 
sadness(Siegfried,
 
2008
 
&
 
Conrad). Affects: “Feelings
 
of
 
professional
 
isolation,
 
larger
 
case
 
loads,
 
and
 
frequent
 
contact
 
with
 
traumatized
 
people
 
can
 
exacerbate
 
effects
 
of
 
Secondary
 
Trauma
 
(Stamm,
 
2002).” STS
 
may
 
lead
 
to
 
workers
 
use
 
of
 
more
 
sick
 
leaves; create
 
lower
 
morale,
 
and
 
less
 
effective
 
workers. Consequently,
 
this
 
can
 
produce
 
poorer
 
outcomes
 
for
 
children
 
and
 
families. One
 
of
 
the
 
reasons
 
that
 
child
 
case
 
workers
 
prematurely
 
leave
 
their
 
jobs
 
is
 
thought
 
to
 
be
 
exposure
 
to
 
Secondary
 
Trauma
 
(Siegfried,
 
2008). High
 
turnover
 
increases
 
agency
 
costs
 
in
 
the
 
recruiting,
 
hiring,
 
and
 
training
 
of
 
new
 
staff. Prevention: