Secondary traumatic stress among war refugee helpers in lithuania: The Role of burnout, compassion satisfaction, and social support

Background: Assistance providers who support war refugees are at risk of experiencing secondary traumatic stress related to the aid recipient trauma. Therefore, it is crucial to identify the risk and protective factors associated with this phenomenon. The cross-sectional study examined the role of burnout, social support, and compassion satisfaction as potential predictors or mitigators of STS among refugee helpers in Lithuania.

Method: The study included 120 professionals and volunteers who provided various types of help to war refugees; their ages ranged from 18 to 74 years (M = 42.5, SD = 12.7), and 90.8 % of the sample were female. Secondary traumatic stress was evaluated by the Secondary Traumatic Stress Scale (STSS), the Professional Quality of Life Scale (ProQOL) was used to measure burnout and compassion satisfaction, and social support was measured by self-constructed questions.

Results: It was found that 19,17 % of participants experienced secondary traumatic stress. The level of secondary traumatic stress was positively related to burnout and negatively associated with compassion satisfaction and social support. Furthermore, burnout was a key prognostic factor of secondary traumatic stress, and higher compassion satisfaction and social support predicted lower secondary traumatic stress indirectly - through a lower level of burnout.

Conclusions: These results provide more insight into the possible direction of secondary traumatic stress prevention and intervention among war refugee helpers. Burnout should be given the most attention to prevent war refugee helpers‘ secondary traumatic stress.