Secondary Traumatic Stress, Perceived Organizational Support, and Coping Strategies Among Psychiatric Nurses

When psychiatric nurses care for traumatized patients, they are affected by the patient's traumatic experience and develop secondary trauma disorders, which affect individual health and quality of care. The objectives of this study were to characterize the current state of organizational support, coping strategies, and secondary traumatic stress (STS) among mental health nurses in Zhengzhou, China, and investigate the connections between these factors and STS. Psychiatric nurses, totaling 197, were employed to conduct the survey. The study used the Secondary Traumatic Stress subscale, the Nurse Work Index, and the Simplified Coping Style Questionnaire (SCSQ) to measure psychiatric nurses' secondary traumatic stress, organizational support, and coping strategies, respectively. The STS level of psychiatric nurses was at the medium level, but some were still at the high level. Those with more than 10 working years had higher STS levels. More than half of psychiatric nurses tended to adopt negative coping methods. Nurses with different coping styles had different STS levels. Active nurses had lower STS levels, and psychiatric nurses with higher organizational support adopted more active coping styles. Psychiatric nurses rated organizational support somewhat, but their participation in hospital affairs and human resource allocation scored the lowest. The STS situation of psychiatric nurses was not optimistic; therefore, hospital managers should pay attention to the mental health of psychiatric nurses, provide them with adequate organizational support, and improve their coping styles, especially those with high seniority and professional titles. Keywords: secondary traumatic stress, organizational support, coping strategies, psychiatric nurse, management