Secondary traumatic stress in healthcare employees: A Covid-19 pandemic study

Objective: This study aims to examine the relationship between secondary traumatic stress, psychological resilience and maladaptive schemas in healthcare employees during the Covid-19 pandemic. Method: A total of 261 individuals, 190 females (%72.8 ) and 71 males (%27.2), with a mean age of 41.6±9.70 years, were included in the study. Participants were reachedonline. All participants were applied a Sociodemograpic and Other Information Form, the Secondary Traumatic Stress Scale, the Psychological Resilience Scale for Adults and the Young Schema Scale Short Form-3. The independent samples t test, oneway ANOVA, Pearson correlation analysis, simple linear regression and multiple linear regression analysis were used in data analysis. Results: The majority of the sample were consisted of female (72.8%), married (65.9%), doctors (41.4%), with kids (68.2%). The majority of the participants were diagnosed as Covid-19 infection, either themselves (60.2%) or their relatives (87.4%). Besides the majority of the sample were not living alone (91.2%). Our results showed that maladaptive schemas predicted psychological resilience, maladaptive schemas and psychological resilience predicted secondary traumatic stress. The secondary traumatic stress level of those participants, who were women, nurses, those who did not live alone, who had direct contact with Covid-19 and whose relatives had Covid- 19 were significantly higher. Conclusion: In light of our results, it can be concluded that among healthcare employees working in Covid-19 pandemic, individuals with maladaptive schemas had lower levels of psychological resilience, who also showed a higher tendency to develop secondary traumatic stress. Keywords: Covid-19, Pandemic, Secondary Traumatic Stress, Maladaptive Schemas, Psychological Resilience, Healthcare Employees