Perceived stress and secondary traumatization in social workers during coronavirus disease 2019

The moderating effect of psychological capital and social work supervision

Bibliographic Data

ID21721663
AuthorsAyelet Gur (0000-0002-5764-0653, Tel Hai Academic College, corresponding author), Maya Peled-Avram (0000-0003-3561-4830, Tel Hai Academic College), Gili Itzchak (Tel Hai Academic College), Sharon Megira (Social Work Department, Tel-Hai College, Upper Galilee, Israel), Ari Reich (0009-0000-9843-3872, Bar-Ilan University), Moshe Farchi (0000-0003-3041-4872, Social Work Department, Tel-Hai College, Upper Galilee, Israel)
Year2024
Volume24
Issue1
Pages93-113
Publication date2024-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Social Work (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1468-0173 • E-ISSN: 1741-296X
PublisherSAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/14680173231197629
OpenAlexW4386896737
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited74

Social workers have had a pivotal role in handling the challenges faced by people dealing with the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Supporting clients who have undergone traumatic experiences during a global pandemic may increase the risk of experiencing secondary traumatic stress. This study examined two protective factors that may be key in the association between stress and social workers’ secondary traumatic stress: Psychological capital (internal protective factor) and satisfaction with supervision (external factor). The study sample included 104 Israeli social workers who worked in their profession during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. A regression-based path analysis was conducted to test the moderation model with the PROCESS software. Findings Self-efficacy significantly moderated the association between perceived stress and intrusion; increasing self-efficacy decreases perceived stress's effect on intrusion. Although no significant moderating effect was found for the existence of supervision, the interaction between perceived stress and satisfaction with supervision was significant in predicting secondary trauma. Applications Social workers’ unions must work to improve the quality of supervision and raise awareness of the importance of supervision in general and particularly during times of crisis. Manageable workloads, a reasonable balance between work and home, and verbal and financial encouragement to seek professional psychological assistance would all be to the advantage of social workers at risk for secondary trauma

Burnout · Moderation · Political science · Protective factor · Social capital · Social support · Clinical Psychology · COVID-19 and Mental Health · Medicine · Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Research · Psychology · Social Psychology · Social Work Education and Practice · Social Work