摘要：This exploratory study aimed to determine the effects of working conditions,including dealing with traumatised clients and distressing materials,on claims workers in the short-term insurance industry.Stress-related illness and lowered productivity has become one of the most serious and pressing workplace health issues and this study sheds light on a particular group of workers who have largely been overlooked in the anthology of vicarious trauma.Vicarious trauma was measured in the study group of claims workers along the dimensions of secondary traumatic stress,compassion satisfaction and burnout.Particular emphasis was placed on secondary traumatic stress as this is the actual measure of vicarious traumatisation.Self-esteem and optimism/pessimism were also investigated to further broaden the understanding of the effect on the study group by their working conditions.These constructs were measured using the ProQOL-RIII,the Mehrabian MSE and MOP Scales,and the scores determined on a scale of low,moderate or high.Scores on the study variables were generally found to be moderate except in the case of secondary traumatic stress,where scores were found to be high.The findings suggest that vicarious traumatisation took place in the study group and that it is a clear and present threat to the population of workers under investigation.
关键词：This exploratory study aimed to determine the effects of working conditions,including dealing with traumatised clients and distressing materials,on claims workers in the short-term insurance industry.Stress-related illness and lowered productivity has become one of the most serious and pressing workplace health issues and this study sheds light on a particular group of workers who have largely been overlooked in the anthology of vicarious trauma.Vicarious trauma was measured in the study group of claims workers along the dimensions of secondary traumatic stress,compassion satisfaction and burnout.Particular emphasis was placed on secondary traumatic stress as this is the actual measure of vicarious traumatisation.Self-esteem and optimism/pessimism were also investigated to further broaden the understanding of the effect on the study group by their working conditions.These constructs were measured using the ProQOL-RIII,the Mehrabian MSE and MOP Scales,and the scores determined on a scale of low,moderate or high.Scores on the study variables were generally found to be moderate except in the case of secondary traumatic stress,where scores were found to be high.The findings suggest that vicarious traumatisation took place in the study group and that it is a clear and present threat to the population of workers under investigation.
