No abstract

Therapists who work with trauma survivors, such as survivors of sexual violence, can experience compassion satisfaction while experiencing negative effects of trauma work, such as secondary traumatic stress. We examined whether the negative effects of secondary traumatic stress on therapist adjustment would be buffered by compassion satisfaction and whether the broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions could be applied to examine the factors (positive emotions and positive reframing) that relate to compassion satisfaction. Sixty-one therapists who work with sexual violence survivors completed measures of secondary traumatic stress, compassion satisfaction, adjustment, positive emotions and positive reframing. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses found that compassion satisfaction buffered the negative impact of secondary traumatic stress on therapist adjustment when adjustment was conceptualised as anxiety. Using non-parametric bootstrapping, we found that the relationship between greater positive emotions and greater compassion satisfaction was partially mediated by positive reframing. The findings indicate that compassion satisfaction is likely to be helpful in ameliorating the negative effects of secondary traumatic stress on anxiety in therapists who work with sexual violence survivors and that the broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions may provide a strong theoretical basis for the further examination of compassion satisfaction in trauma therapists.

The association between reproductive and mental health among women with post-disaster experiences is under-researched. This presentation reports the results and implications of a cross-sectional study on mental health in Pakistan women of reproductive age following an earthquake event. A random sample of 387 Pakistani women of reproductive age (15-49 years) with earthquake experience completed the Centers for Disease Control reproductive health assessment toolkit. They also took the Hopkins Symptom Checklist-25, and the Harvard Trauma Questionnaire. The association of either depression or anxiety with socio-demographic variables, earthquake experiences, reproductive health and access to health facilities was estimated using multivariate logistic regression. Women with worse reproductive health events such as having a stillbirth, having had an abortion, having had abnormal vaginal discharge or having had genitalulcers, were at significant risk of depression and anxiety. Effects were exacerbated with loss of resources for subsistence and separation from family following the earthquake event. The relationship between women's post-earthquake mental health and reproductive health, socio-economic status, and health care access is complex and explained largely by the socio-cultural role of women. The mental health of women affected by the earthquake is associated with low socio-economic status, separation from family, poor reproductive health outcomes and limited access to appropriate health facilities. Socio-cultural influences and access to health care may predispose them to risk adverse health outcomes from post-earthquake trauma. Posttraumatic stress and growth in tsunami relief volunteersBraj Bhushan IIT Kanpur, India; Che Liping The primary aim of the current study was to explore how the direction of counterfactual thoughts influences posttraumatic stress (PTS) and posttraumatic growth (PTG). 20 female relief volunteers who had participated in the post-tsunami relief operations in the coastal areas of Tamil Nadu were assessed for proactive coping, dissociative experiences, PTS and PTG. Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) and multiple discriminant analysis were performed to identify the key underlying dimensions affecting PTS and PTG. The main effects of amnesia, depersonalization and percentage of dissociation were highly significant. Intrusion was determined by dissociative experiences (amnesia and depersonalization) and family type whereas capacity for absorption determined avoidance symptoms. The main effects of proactive coping were significant for relating to others, new possibility, spiritual change, appreciation of life and total PTG score. The amnestic symptom of dissociation had a significant influence on intrusion and total trauma score as well as all the dimensions of PTG. The capacity for absorption significantly affected avoidance and total trauma score besides relating to others, personal strength, and spiritual change dimensions of PTG. The main effect of depersonalization was significant fo...