Factors affecting professional satisfaction, burnout and secondary traumatic stress in forensic medicine specialists and specialist students

Introduction: Forensic pathologists, like all healthcare professionals, experience stress in their careers and frequently encounter individuals exposed to physical and psychological trauma. Increasing job satisfaction and minimizing burnout and secondary traumatic stress will have a positive impact on the lives of healthcare professionals and the healthcare system. This study was conducted to determine the factors affecting the job satisfaction, burnout, and secondary traumatic stress experienced by forensic medicine specialists and medical students. Material and Method: Our study was designed as a descriptive cross-sectional study and included a total of 294 participants consisting of forensic medicine specialists and medical students in Turkey. Participants were administered the Professional Quality of Life scale and an online questionnaire to assess their socio-demographic and professional characteristics. Results: It was found that 224 (76.2%) participants had an average score for job satisfaction, 164 (55.8%) had an average score for burnout, and 76 (25.9%) had an average/high score for secondary traumatic stress. Age, income, title, years of experience, number of examinations of sexual assault victims, and stress management training were statistically significantly related to job satisfaction. Income, performing examinations of sexual assault victims, and experiencing a traumatic event requiring psychological support were statistically significantly related to burnout. Having children, being on-call, stress management training, and experiencing a traumatic event requiring psychological support were statistically significantly related to secondary traumatic stress. Conclusion: In our study, it was observed that job satisfaction levels of forensic pathologists were not high, and their levels of burnout were average to high, with a quarter of them being at risk for secondary traumatic stress. We believe that efforts by forensic pathologists to address and mitigate stress in their working environments will have a positive impact on the healthcare system and healthcare professionals.