Professional quality of life of child welfare workers and psychotherapists working with traumatized young unaccompanied refugees in Germany: a cross-sectional study.

IF 3.4 3区医学 Q1 PEDIATRICS

Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health Pub Date : 2025-07-15 DOI:10.1186/s13034-025-00942-0

Pia Maria Schwegler, Barbara Kasparik, Jonathan Thielemann, Rebekka Eilers, Elisa Pfeiffer, Cedric Sachser, Rita Rosner

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Background: Burnout symptoms and secondary traumatic stress are especially high among Child Welfare Workers (CWWs) and psychotherapists and might have increased since the recent increase in refugee numbers. Little is known about the wellbeing of CWW and psychotherapists working with unaccompanied young refugees (UYR), especially in German child and youth welfare facilities where they work closely together. This study aims to assess levels of compassion satisfaction (CS), burnout (BO), and secondary traumatic stress (STS) in German CWWs and psychotherapists, examining connections to demographic variables and group differences.

Methods: N = 198 CWW and N = 97 psychotherapists were assessed via the Professional Quality of Life Scale (ProQOL). Descriptive statistics, t-test for independent samples, correlations between the ProQOL scales and hierarchical regression analyses with demographic variables as predictors were computed.

Results: Both samples showed average to high levels of CS, and low to average levels of BO and STS. CWWs scored significantly higher than psychotherapists on BO and STS. In CWW, demographic variables were not associated with CS, BO or STS. Among psychotherapists, previous experiences in working with UYR (β = 0.38; p <.001) were positively associated with CS. Factors such as weekly therapy sessions (β = - 0.35, p =.001) and the psychotherapist's migration background (β = - 0.20, p =.048) were negatively associated with STS. The number of PTSD cases treated (β = 0.27, p =.018) and additional training (β = 0.31, p =.006) were positively associated with STS.

Conclusion: Among psychotherapists, prior experience in working with UYRs may contribute to elevated levels of CS, whereas a higher number of previously treated PTSD cases appears to be associated with increased STS. Further research on the influence of sociodemographic variables is needed for CWWs to identify protective and risk factors. Supporting and training CWWs and psychotherapists is crucial for quality treatment of traumatized UYRs.

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德国儿童福利工作者和心理治疗师的职业生活质量：一项横断面研究。

背景：在儿童福利工作者（CWWs）和心理治疗师中，倦怠症状和继发性创伤压力特别高，并且可能随着最近难民人数的增加而增加。很少有人知道CWW和心理治疗师与无人陪伴的年轻难民（UYR）一起工作，特别是在德国儿童和青年福利机构，他们密切合作。本研究旨在评估德国cww和心理治疗师的同情满意度（CS）、倦怠（BO）和继发性创伤应激（STS）水平，研究其与人口统计学变量和群体差异的联系。方法：采用专业生活质量量表（ProQOL）对198名CWW和97名心理治疗师进行评估。计算描述性统计、独立样本t检验、ProQOL量表之间的相关性以及以人口统计学变量为预测因子的层次回归分析。结果：两种样品均显示出平均至高水平的CS，以及低至平均水平的BO和STS。护士在BO和STS上的得分显著高于心理治疗师。在CWW中，人口统计学变量与CS、BO或STS无关。在心理治疗师中，先前处理UYR的经验(β = 0.38；p结论：在心理治疗师中，先前与uyr打交道的经验可能导致CS水平升高，而先前治疗过的PTSD病例数量增加似乎与STS增加有关。需要进一步研究社会人口变量的影响，以确定保护和危险因素。支持和培训cww和心理治疗师对受创伤的维吾尔族人的高质量治疗至关重要。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health PEDIATRICSPSYCHIATRY-PSYCHIATRY

CiteScore

7.00

自引率

3.60%

发文量

审稿时长

16 weeks

期刊介绍： Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health, the official journal of the International Association for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Allied Professions, is an open access, online journal that provides an international platform for rapid and comprehensive scientific communication on child and adolescent mental health across different cultural backgrounds. CAPMH serves as a scientifically rigorous and broadly open forum for both interdisciplinary and cross-cultural exchange of research information, involving psychiatrists, paediatricians, psychologists, neuroscientists, and allied disciplines. The journal focusses on improving the knowledge base for the diagnosis, prognosis and treatment of mental health conditions in children and adolescents, and aims to integrate basic science, clinical research and the practical implementation of research findings. In addition, aspects which are still underrepresented in the traditional journals such as neurobiology and neuropsychology of psychiatric disorders in childhood and adolescence are considered.