The Quality Improvement Center for Workforce Development (QIC-WD), a multisite child welfare workforce research grant funded by the Children’s Bureau, developed Secondary Traumatic Stress: Definitions, Measures, Predictors, and Interventions, a resource focused on the emotional duress associated with and often considered an occupational hazard of helping professions.
Secondary traumatic stress (STS) is the natural adverse reaction to indirectly experiencing the trauma of another person, which can manifest in ways similar to post-traumatic stress disorder. It is a very real and prevalent phenomenon for many professionals like domestic violence advocates, child welfare workers, first responders, educators, physicians, and others who work with children and families who have experienced traumatic events. According to the QIC-WD brief, more than 50 percent of the nearly 1,000 professionals surveyed across its project sites reported experiencing STS symptoms in the preceding week.