Examination of psychological resilience and secondary traumatic stress levels of working professionals in disasters

This study was conducted to investigate the psychological resilience and secondary traumatic stress levels of disaster professionals in terms of some variables. Fort his purpose, the information obtained from 190 professionals working in various institutions and organizations in the field of disaster were evaluated. Professionals working in the field are included in this research. "Psychological Resilience Scale" developed by Şerife ISIK and "Secondary Traumatic Stress Scale" developed by Ayla KAHIL was used to measure the level of psychological resilience and secondary traumatic stress of professionals. The personal and professional knowledge of professionals was gathered by the "Personal Information Form" prepared by the researcher. The research was designed in quantitative method and in relational screening model. The data were analyzed in SPSS 20 program. According to the findings, psychological resilience level of the professionals was high and secondary traumatic stress level was low. A positive correlation was found between the age of professionals and psychological endurance level, and a negative correlation was found between secondary trauma level. Secondary traumatic stress level was higher in women. A significant relationship was found between profession and psychological resilience. A significant relationship was also found between profession and secondary traumatic stress levels. It has been found that Manager / Responsible employees have the highest psychological resilience and search and rescue workers have the lowest psychological resilience. Health workers have the highest secondary traumatic stress level. A significant relationship was found between the two scale scores and the status of receiving in-service training and receiving supervision support. Professionals who received in-service training and supervision support had higher psychological resilience and lower secondary traumatic stress. A negative and significant relationship was found between the psychological resilience levels and secondary traumatic stress levels of the professionals. According to this, secondary traumatic stress decreases when psychological resilience increases, or psychological resilience decreases when secondary traumatic stress increases. The results of the study reveal the importance of psychological resilience personality trait in the development of secondary traumatic stress. In addition, the importance of receiving in-service trainings and supervision support in preventing or reducing secondary traumatic stress symptoms has emerged. According to the findings, this study was concluded with suggestions for the protection of mental health of the professionals working in disasters and increasing their psychological resilience. Keywords Professionals Working in Disasters, Psychological Resilience, Secondary Traumatic Stress, Social Work in Disasters.