Secondary traumatic stress in nurses: a systematic review
1University of Connecticut, School of Nursing, Storrs, CT 06269-2026, USA. cheryl.beck@uconn.edu
Archives of Psychiatric Nursing
|January 22, 2011
Summary
Healthcare providers, especially nurses, experience secondary traumatic stress when caring for traumatized patients. This review highlights the prevalence of this stress and the instruments used to measure it.
Area of Science:
- Nursing
- Psychology
- Trauma Studies
Background:
- Healthcare providers face a
- cost of caring
- when working with traumatized patients.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review literature on secondary traumatic stress (STS) in nurses.
- Identify studies on STS across nursing specialties.
- Determine instruments used to measure STS and their psychometric properties.
Main Methods:
- Systematic literature review.
- Searched CINAHL, PubMed, PsycINFO (1981-present).
- Included studies on nurses measuring STS symptoms in English.
Main Results:
- Seven studies examined STS in nurses.
- STS reported in forensic, ED, oncology, pediatric, and hospice nurses.
- Identified three instruments: STS Scale, CFST-H, CFS-R.
Conclusions:
- STS is prevalent in nurses across various specialties.
- Varied sample sizes and instruments limit cross-study comparisons.
- Future research should address STS in psychiatric nurses and protective strategies.
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