Secondary Trauma Among Social Workers Treating Trauma Clients: The role of coping strategies and internal resources

This article discusses the relationship between coping strategies (problem-focused, emotion-focused, and avoidance), internal resources (dispositional optimism and mastery), demographic and work characteristics, and secondary trauma symptoms among 160 social workers in public agencies who are treating clients who were victims of trauma. A hierarchical regression analysis finding shows that emotion-focused and avoidance coping strategies, previous history of exposure to a traumatic event, and high exposure to traumatic material through clients were associated with increased levels of secondary trauma. Comparatively dispositional optimism, mastery, and steady supervision on a weekly basis were associated with a reduction of those symptoms.