TY - JOUR
T1 - Exposure to traumatic events at work, posttraumatic symptoms and professional quality of life among midwives
AU - Cohen, Ran
AU - Leykin, Dmitry
AU - Golan-Hadari, Dita
AU - Lahad, Mooli
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 Elsevier Ltd
PY - 2017/7/1
Y1 - 2017/7/1
N2 - Objective in their line of duty, midwives are often exposed to traumatic births that may lead to symptoms of compassion fatigue (CF), which includes burnout (BO) and secondary traumatic stress (STS).Conversely, midwives derive pleasure and great satisfaction in seeing the positive effect they have on their clients. This experience is known as compassion satisfaction (CS). Together, CS and CF comprise the professional quality of life (ProQOL). The aim of this paper was to study midwives' professional quality of life and traumatic experiences. The highly stressful environment of midwives may also include primary exposure to traumatic experiences and therefore PTSD levels were also assessed. Method the participants (N=93) were professional midwives from four medical centers in Israel. The participants answered selfreport questionnaires that assessed their ProQOL and PTSD symptoms. Findings results indicated relatively high levels of CS which may mitigate, at least to some degree, the negative aspects of CF. PTSD levels significantly and positively correlated with STS and BO. Sixteen per cent presented with PTSD symptoms of clinical significance. Also, seniority was significantly and positively correlated with BO and PTSD symptoms. Conclusions high ProQOL was found amongst the participants, with more than 74% scoring on the high range of CS. Nevertheless, we recommend further research and implementing strategies to maintain or further enhance CS and decrease CF levels. Finally, a more comprehensive understanding of the development of PTSD amongst midwives is vital in order to minimize its occurrence in the future.
AB - Objective in their line of duty, midwives are often exposed to traumatic births that may lead to symptoms of compassion fatigue (CF), which includes burnout (BO) and secondary traumatic stress (STS).Conversely, midwives derive pleasure and great satisfaction in seeing the positive effect they have on their clients. This experience is known as compassion satisfaction (CS). Together, CS and CF comprise the professional quality of life (ProQOL). The aim of this paper was to study midwives' professional quality of life and traumatic experiences. The highly stressful environment of midwives may also include primary exposure to traumatic experiences and therefore PTSD levels were also assessed. Method the participants (N=93) were professional midwives from four medical centers in Israel. The participants answered selfreport questionnaires that assessed their ProQOL and PTSD symptoms. Findings results indicated relatively high levels of CS which may mitigate, at least to some degree, the negative aspects of CF. PTSD levels significantly and positively correlated with STS and BO. Sixteen per cent presented with PTSD symptoms of clinical significance. Also, seniority was significantly and positively correlated with BO and PTSD symptoms. Conclusions high ProQOL was found amongst the participants, with more than 74% scoring on the high range of CS. Nevertheless, we recommend further research and implementing strategies to maintain or further enhance CS and decrease CF levels. Finally, a more comprehensive understanding of the development of PTSD amongst midwives is vital in order to minimize its occurrence in the future.
KW - Compassion fatigue
KW - Compassion satisfaction
KW - Midwives
KW - PTSD
KW - Professional quality of life
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85016067220&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.midw.2017.03.009
DO - 10.1016/j.midw.2017.03.009
M3 - Article
C2 - 28347853
AN - SCOPUS:85016067220
SN - 0266-6138
VL - 50
SP - 1
EP - 8
JO - Midwifery
JF - Midwifery
ER -