Examination of secondary traumatic stress levels among lawyers by empathy, empathy components and other variables

Empathy has three components: cognitive empathy, emotional empathy and empathic concern. In the literature, it is argued that empathic reactions shown towards suffering of others may ultimately lead to psychological pain (mental suffering) in the person who empathize. Theories on the subject creates an empathy paradox. Empathy, together with the mentioned components is necessary for lawyers to build up a healthy professional relationship with their clients; however, empathy can also trigger the development of secondary traumatic stress (STS) symptoms. It is believed that examining the different components of empathy, which is considered both a protective factor against STS and also a risk factor, and additionally investigating the empathy and STS levels depending on the variables of age, gender and traumaticity levels will contribute to the literature by making comparisons between the lawyers in the study and identifying the profiles of the individuals in different groups and discussing the findings with the results and opinions from various studies in the field. The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between empathy, the components of empathy (emotional, cognitive, empathic concern/sympathy) with the levels of STS among lawyers and to compare the levels of these variables by gender, age and traumaticity levels. The research group was reached both online and face-to-face using the convenience sampling method and total of 407 lawyers participated, included 197 women and 210 men. The research group was reached both online and face-to-face by using the convenience sampling method and total of 407 lawyers participated, included 197 women and 210 men. The research data obtained by using the Empathy Quotient (Cambridge Behaviour Scale), Secondary Traumatic Stress Scale and the Sociodemographic Information Form and Traumaticity Rating Form prepared by the researcher. According to the Pearson correlation and linear regression analyses conducted via SPSS 26.0 program, a significant positive relationship was found between empathy, emotional empathy with STS levels in lawyers, and it was found that empathy and emotional empathy levels predicted STS levels more than cognitive empathy. According to the independent t-test and one-way ANOVA analyses, it was found that empathy, emotional and cognitive empathy and STS levels were significantly higher in women lawyers than in men, and empathy, emotional and cognitive empathy and STS levels in the 50-59 age group were significantly higher than in other age groups.