The Effect of Work Climate on Secondary Traumatic Stress in Disaster Social Workers Responding to the Great East Japan Earthquake

Background and Purpose: On March 11, 2011, one of the most powerful earthquakes struck off the coast of Tohoku in Japan, churning up a devastating tsunami. More than 22,000 people died, hundreds of thousands evacuated their homes and still remain in temporary houses. Disaster social workers have supported these victims and will continue to do so for years. Hearing traumatic details from the victims can awaken social workers’ own traumatic stress, which is referred to as secondary traumatic stress (STS). Theories of psychological trauma, stress and coping, and social support suggest that social workers experiencing STS are more likely to have job burnout and quit their jobs, while a supportive work environment is considered a protective factor for disaster social workers. Japanese social workers responding to the disaster may have experienced the high level of stress and similar symptoms as the victims; however, most social workers are not aware of their risk of experiencing STS, the same types of symptoms suffered by their traumatized clients. In addition, only a few studies exist to help address disaster circumstances and STS. Hence, it is important to study the struggle and STS among disaster social workers. The goal of this study is to examine the impact of work climate on STS in Japanese social workers who experienced indirect exposure to the disaster and have assisted the victims of the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake.

Method: Three hundred mail surveys were sent to social workers in the Tohoku area between September and December 2012, and 114 were successfully completed and returned (response rate: 38%). The 13-item Compassion Fatigue scale was adapted to Japanese social workers to measure secondary traumatic stress (STS). Organizational support was measured by 6 items which assessed the levels of clinical supervisor support and case consultation. The degree of friendliness and support among coworkers was measured by the 9-item Coworker Cohesion scale. Demographic information included gender, age, education, and years of social work practice.  

Results: The results of regression analysis showed that there was a significant prediction of STS by number of disaster victims; level of trauma; degree of organizational support; degree of coworker cohesion; and demographics, F(12, 101)=2.99, p <.01, R² =.37, adjusted R² =.25. A greater number of disaster victims increased the level of STS among social workers, β =.47, t(101)= 2.97, p<.01,sr² =.08. Strong cohesion among coworkers reduced the level of STS, β=-.29, t(101)= -2.43, p<.05, sr² =.06. None of the demographics significantly predicted the level of STS among social workers.

Conclusions and Implications: Findings suggest that social workers in disaster situations experience difficult emotional conditions, which in turn can affect their job performance. Results showed that disaster social workers who perceived high levels of coworker cohesion exhibited low STS, suggesting that a supportive work environment can reduce the risk of developing STS in these workers. Further research will be required to provide case examples on social workers’ struggle to overcome their psychological adversity as well as STS interventions and their outcomes.