Prevalence of secondary traumatic stress among disaster relief volunteers

Secondary Traumatic Stress is a stress response brought about by working with or having a close relationship with a person or population affected by a traumatic event. It has been found in doctors, nurses, social workers, psychologists, and aid workers. The purpose of this study was to further understand the prevalence of STS in disaster relief volunteers. Thirty-five former and current volunteers for various disaster relief organizations filled out a survey about their experience, the Secondary Traumatic Stress Scale and the Compassion Fatigue Scale-Revised. Out of 35 participants, 91% were found to have at least one symptom of STS or Compassion Fatigue. 20% met all three criteria for Secondary Traumatic Stress, 11% met the criteria for Burnout on the CFS-R, and 28.5% met the criteria for secondary trauma on the CFS-R