Paediatric health-care professionals: Relationships between psychological distress, resilience and coping skills

Aim: To investigate the impact of regular exposure to paediatric medical trauma on multidisciplinary teams in a paediatric hospital and the relationships between psychological distress, resilience and coping skills. Method: Symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, secondary traumatic stress, depr...

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Main Authors: McGarry, Sarah, Girdler, Sonya, McDonald, A., Valentine, J., Lee, S., Blair, E., Wood, Fiona, Elliott, Catherine
Format: Journal Article
Published: Blackwell Scientific Publications 2013
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/17120
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author McGarry, Sarah
Girdler, Sonya
McDonald, A.
Valentine, J.
Lee, S.
Blair, E.
Wood, Fiona
Elliott, Catherine
author_facet McGarry, Sarah
Girdler, Sonya
McDonald, A.
Valentine, J.
Lee, S.
Blair, E.
Wood, Fiona
Elliott, Catherine
author_sort McGarry, Sarah
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Aim: To investigate the impact of regular exposure to paediatric medical trauma on multidisciplinary teams in a paediatric hospital and the relationships between psychological distress, resilience and coping skills. Method: Symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, secondary traumatic stress, depression, anxiety, stress, burnout, compassion satisfaction, resilience and coping skills were measured in 54 health professionals and compared with published norms. Results: Participants experienced more symptoms of secondary traumatic stress (P < 0.01), showed less resilience (P = 0.05) and compassion satisfaction (≥0.01), more use of optimism and sharing as coping strategies, and less use of dealing with the problem and non-productive coping strategies than comparative groups. Non-productive coping was associated with more secondary traumatic stress (r = 0.50, P = 0.05), burnout (r = 0.45, P = 0.01), post-traumatic stress disorder (r = 0.41, P = 0.05), anxiety (r = 0.42, P = 0.05), depression (r = 0.54, P = 0.01), and stress (r = 0.52, P = 0.01) and resilience was positively associated with optimism (r = 0.48, P = 0.01). Health professionals <25 years old used more non-productive coping strategies (P = 0.05), less ‘sharing as a coping strategy’ (P = 0.05) and tended to have more symptoms of depression (P = 0.06). Conclusion: Paediatric medical trauma can adversely affect a health professional's well-being, particularly those <25 years of age who make less use of positive coping strategies and more use of non-productive coping. These findings will assist the development of effective and meaningful interventions for health professionals working in paediatric hospitals.
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-171202019-07-08T04:30:10Z Paediatric health-care professionals: Relationships between psychological distress, resilience and coping skills McGarry, Sarah Girdler, Sonya McDonald, A. Valentine, J. Lee, S. Blair, E. Wood, Fiona Elliott, Catherine psychiatry/mental health trauma multidisciplinary team Aim: To investigate the impact of regular exposure to paediatric medical trauma on multidisciplinary teams in a paediatric hospital and the relationships between psychological distress, resilience and coping skills. Method: Symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, secondary traumatic stress, depression, anxiety, stress, burnout, compassion satisfaction, resilience and coping skills were measured in 54 health professionals and compared with published norms. Results: Participants experienced more symptoms of secondary traumatic stress (P < 0.01), showed less resilience (P = 0.05) and compassion satisfaction (≥0.01), more use of optimism and sharing as coping strategies, and less use of dealing with the problem and non-productive coping strategies than comparative groups. Non-productive coping was associated with more secondary traumatic stress (r = 0.50, P = 0.05), burnout (r = 0.45, P = 0.01), post-traumatic stress disorder (r = 0.41, P = 0.05), anxiety (r = 0.42, P = 0.05), depression (r = 0.54, P = 0.01), and stress (r = 0.52, P = 0.01) and resilience was positively associated with optimism (r = 0.48, P = 0.01). Health professionals <25 years old used more non-productive coping strategies (P = 0.05), less ‘sharing as a coping strategy’ (P = 0.05) and tended to have more symptoms of depression (P = 0.06). Conclusion: Paediatric medical trauma can adversely affect a health professional's well-being, particularly those <25 years of age who make less use of positive coping strategies and more use of non-productive coping. These findings will assist the development of effective and meaningful interventions for health professionals working in paediatric hospitals. 2013 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/17120 10.1111/jpc.12260 Blackwell Scientific Publications restricted
spellingShingle psychiatry/mental health
trauma
multidisciplinary team
McGarry, Sarah
Girdler, Sonya
McDonald, A.
Valentine, J.
Lee, S.
Blair, E.
Wood, Fiona
Elliott, Catherine
Paediatric health-care professionals: Relationships between psychological distress, resilience and coping skills
title Paediatric health-care professionals: Relationships between psychological distress, resilience and coping skills
title_full Paediatric health-care professionals: Relationships between psychological distress, resilience and coping skills
title_fullStr Paediatric health-care professionals: Relationships between psychological distress, resilience and coping skills
title_full_unstemmed Paediatric health-care professionals: Relationships between psychological distress, resilience and coping skills
title_short Paediatric health-care professionals: Relationships between psychological distress, resilience and coping skills
title_sort paediatric health-care professionals: relationships between psychological distress, resilience and coping skills
topic psychiatry/mental health
trauma
multidisciplinary team
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/17120