Tools
Tools
Bridger, K.M. 
ORCID: 0000-0002-4215-4927, Binder, J.F. ORCID: 0000-0002-1083-7109 and Kellezi, B. ORCID: 0000-0003-4825-3624,
2019.
Secondary traumatic stress in foster carers: risk factors and implications for intervention.
Journal of Child and Family Studies.
ISSN 1062-1024
|
Text
1250378_Binder.pdf - Published version Download (726kB) | Preview |
Abstract
Objectives: Fostering, a professional or semi-professional role that is in increasing demand, involves potential exposure to material related to children’s trauma in a domestic setting. Yet, professional vulnerability to secondary traumatic stress (STS) is under-researched in foster carers, as is the suitability of associated intervention techniques. We therefore investigated incidence of STS and psychological predictors relevant to secondary and primary stress appraisal in UK foster carers.
Methods: British foster carers (n = 187; 81% female; aged 23–72 years; mean length of experience 9 years) were approached through a range of organizations managing paid foster caring in the UK for a survey study. Self-report measures were obtained on STS, burnout and compassion satisfaction from the Professional Quality of Life (ProQOL) scale, as well as on primary trauma and variables previously recommended for inclusion in training targeting secondary trauma: empathy, resilience and self-care.
Results: High levels of STS and burnout were found among foster carers. In multivariate model testing, STS was directly and positively predicted by burnout, compassion satisfaction and primary trauma (R2 = 0.54, p < 0.001). Resilience, empathy and self-care did not show direct associations with STS, but self-care had a significant indirect effect on STS.
Conclusions: Findings support the view that STS is a substantial risk factor in foster caring. While self-care is confirmed as a promising factor in intervention, the roles of empathy and resilience are more ambiguous.
| Item Type: | Journal article | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Publication Title: | Journal of Child and Family Studies | ||||||
| Creators: | Bridger, K.M., Binder, J.F. and Kellezi, B. | ||||||
| Publisher: | Springer | ||||||
| Date: | 28 November 2019 | ||||||
| ISSN: | 1062-1024 | ||||||
| Identifiers: |
|
||||||
| Rights: | © The Author(s) 2019. Open Access. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. | ||||||
| Divisions: | Schools > School of Social Sciences | ||||||
| Record created by: | Linda Sullivan | ||||||
| Date Added: | 05 Dec 2019 11:39 | ||||||
| Last Modified: | 06 Sep 2023 09:58 | ||||||
| URI: | https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/38764 |
Actions (login required)
 |
Edit View |
Views
Views per month over past year
Downloads
Downloads per month over past year
