Effect of trauma-informed care on hair cortisol concentration in youth welfare staff and client physical aggression towards staff: results of a longitudinal study
Autor: | Anne Eckert, Jörg M. Fegert, Janine Lüdtke, Marc Schmid, Claudia Dölitzsch, Sophia Fischer |
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Jazyk: | angličtina |
Rok vydání: | 2020 |
Předmět: |
Adult
Male Longitudinal study Trauma-informed care Adolescent Hydrocortisone Health Personnel Poison control Suicide prevention Occupational safety and health Client aggression 03 medical and health sciences Young Adult 0302 clinical medicine Hair cortisol Adaptation Psychological Medicine Humans 0501 psychology and cognitive sciences Longitudinal Studies Child Burnout Professional business.industry Aggression Youth welfare lcsh:Public aspects of medicine 05 social sciences Public Health Environmental and Occupational Health Human factors and ergonomics lcsh:RA1-1270 Middle Aged Mental health 030227 psychiatry Compassion fatigue Female medicine.symptom business Stress Psychological 050104 developmental & child psychology Clinical psychology Research Article Hair |
Zdroj: | BMC Public Health BMC Public Health, Vol 20, Iss 1, Pp 1-11 (2020) |
ISSN: | 1471-2458 |
Popis: | Background Professional caregivers working in child and youth welfare institutions are frequently faced with the complex mental health issues, emotional needs and challenging coping strategies of clients with cumulated traumatic experiences, leaving them prone to developing high levels of stress, burn-out and compassion fatigue. Trauma-informed care (TIC) is a milieu-therapeutic approach that aims to promote the self-efficacy and self-care of youth welfare staff by guiding them to a better understanding of their own and their clients’ stress symptoms and countertransference. Despite increasing efforts to implement TIC practices, and more widespread recognition of their value in youth welfare systems, there is a lack of studies evaluating the effectiveness of this approach. The aim of this study was to assess the effects of TIC practices in youth welfare institutions on both the physiological stress of staff members and clients’ physical aggression towards their caregivers. . Methods Data was obtained from a longitudinal study investigating the effectiveness of TIC in 14 residential youth welfare institutions. Our sample consisted of 47 youth welfare employees (66.0% female) aged from 23 to 60 years (M = 37.4, SD = 10.4 years). Hair cortisol concentration (HCC) and occurrences of client physical aggression were assessed at four annual measurement time points (T1 to T4). Results Participants in five institutions employing TIC practices (intervention group) showed significantly lower HCC at T4 than staff members from institutions who did not receive training in TIC (control group), indicating reduced physiological stress levels. At T4, the intervention group reported significantly less physical aggression than the control group. Conclusions TIC might be a promising approach for reducing the emotional burden of employees and institutions should invest in training their staff in TIC practices. More research is necessary, to investigate the benefits and efficacy of TIC, both to youths and staff members, and to foster a better understanding of which specific factors may contribute to stress reduction. |
Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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