| dc.description.abstract | Background
Sexual violence has adverse physical and psycho-social consequences on the survivor. Attending to survivors of sexual violence can be equally difficult to health care providers including trauma counselors. Their work entails an intense, personal relationship, and it is often emotional since they empathically engage in the pain of the person they are helping. This puts trauma counselors at a risk of developing Secondary Traumatic Stress (STS) which extensive literature reviews have recognised as a serious occupational hazard. Investigating and understanding traumatic stress among trauma counselors can inform in the formulation of appropriate intervention strategies to overcome the problem and challenges faced by trauma counsellors in Kenya.
Main Objective
To determine the prevalence of Secondary Traumatic Stress among trauma counselors attending to survivors of sexual violence in health care facilities in Kenya.
Methodology
The study was a cross sectional population survey with the target population as trauma counselors attending directly to survivors of sexual violence in health care facilities in Kenya. Nineteen (19) health care facilities offering specialised Post Rape Care services (PRC) in Kenya were conveniently sampled and all eligible participants who consented were included in the study until the researcher achieved the desired sample size of 116 trauma counselors. Data was collected by administering a researcher designed Socio-demographic questionnaire and the Professional Quality of Life Scale (ProQOL; Stamm, 2009) to this selected population. Questionnaires were coded and the results were tabulated to reveal the emerging patterns. Data was analyzed using computer software SPSS version 17 and presented inform of frequency tables, bar charts and pie charts.
The researcher observed all the ethical considerations.
Results
Out of 116 participants who were interviewed, results showed that 20 (17.2%) had low levels of STS, 54 (46.6%) had average levels ofSTS and 42 (36.2%) had high levels ofS1'S. Majority 98 (84.5%) of those sampled were female while 18 (15.5%) were male (Ratio - 1:5). This study further established that most of the participants 60 (52%) were in the age bracket 31- 40 years and had diplomas as their highest level of academic qualification (n=72, 62.1 %).
Some of the risk factors for developing STS were found to be working as a trauma counselor as a female (p=0.048), being below 30 years of age (p=O.002), being single (p=0.001), having a lower academic and professional qualifications (p=0.000), having worked a trauma counselor for less than 5 years (p=O.OOl), working for more than 8 hours per day (p=0.000), absence of ample social support and lack of supervision at the facility (p=0.009, p=0.008) and having a personal history of trauma (p=0.031), especially more than one traumatic event (p=O.004) and failing to seek professional help (p=0.02). The protective factors were being male, being married, being above 40 years of age, having higher academic and professional qualifications, taking annual leave, working for less than 8 hours, accessing support supervision at the workplace and seeking of professional help for those who reported to have encountered traumatic events in their lives. The presence of STS was significantly correlated with substance abuse (P=0.029). Correlation between STS and burnout was also done and in this case burnout was positively and significantly related to STS (p=0.007) indicating that respondents who scored highly on STS also rated higher on burnout. There was however a significant negative relationship between STS and compassion satisfaction (p=O.075).
Conclusion
The study concluded that STS is highly prevalent among trauma counselors attending to survivors of sexual violence in health care facilities in Kenya. Those who were found to have low levels of STS were considered to be within normal range that can resolve normally. The null hypothesis was therefore rejected. | en_US |
