Secondary Traumatic Stress and Vicarious Trauma in Caregiving Professions

Secondary traumatic stress and vicarious trauma describe the psychological burden experienced by professionals who support individuals affected by distressing events. Caregivers in nursing, social work, psychotherapy, education and humanitarian aid may develop symptoms mirroring those of direct trauma exposure, including intrusive thoughts, emotional numbing, hyperarousal and shifts in worldview. These reactions often coexist with compassion fatigue, burnout and reduced professional efficacy, undermining both personal well-being and service quality. Global research underscores the prevalence of secondary stress across diverse settings—from emergency departments and domestic abuse helplines to refugee camps and schools—highlighting organisational, interpersonal and individual factors that shape risk and resilience. Protective elements such as supportive supervision, self-care practices and cognitive coping skills can mitigate adverse outcomes, while high caseloads, insufficient training and lack of institutional support exacerbate vulnerability. Understanding the interplay between personal history, empathy and workplace context is essential for developing targeted interventions that preserve caregiver health and sustain effective client care.

Research from Nature Portfolio

Recent studies have examined the role of cognitive flexibility as a moderator of stress responses in educators exposed to school-related traumatic events. Educators with greater ability to shift perspectives and adapt coping strategies reported fewer post-traumatic symptoms and lower reliance on maladaptive coping following repeated exposure to violence or loss in the classroom. This work emphasises cognitive flexibility not only as a buffer against the development of secondary traumatic stress but also as a target for resilience-building programmes designed to enhance adaptive functioning and reduce the long-term psychological toll on teaching professionals.

Secondary Traumatic Stress and Vicarious Trauma in Caregiving Professions publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in secondary traumatic stress and vicarious trauma in caregiving professions across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Secondary traumatic stress: Emotional and psychological disturbance arising from indirect exposure to traumatising events through the care of affected individuals.

Vicarious trauma: Gradual transformation of the helper’s inner experience due to empathetic engagement with clients’ traumatic narratives.

Cognitive flexibility: Capacity to adapt thinking patterns and coping strategies in response to changing stressors or novel information.

References

1. Exposure to secondary traumatic stress and its related factors among emergency nurses in Saudi Arabia: a mixed method study. BMC Nursing (2024).
2. The role of cognitive flexibility in moderating the effect of school-related stress exposure. Scientific Reports (2023).
3. Japanese public health nurses classified based on empathy and secondary traumatic stress: variable-centered and person-centered approaches. BMC Psychiatry (2023).
4. A Scoping Review of Vicarious Trauma Interventions for Service Providers Working With People Who Have Experienced Traumatic Events. Trauma Violence & Abuse (2021).