Secondary Traumatic Stress: How it interferes with the performance of the nursing professional

Sílvia Souza Lima Costa,Lucilene Santos Pereira Carrijo

doi:10.32749/nucleodoconhecimento.com.br/health/secondary-traumatic-stress

Sílvia Souza Lima Costa, Lucilene Santos Pereira Carrijo

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.32749/nucleodoconhecimento.com.br/health/secondary-traumatic-stress

Copy DOI

Abstract

The performance of the nursing professional suffers from the interference of Secondary Traumatic Stress (STS), work stress that affects health professionals. This work aims to understand the implications of STS in professional life, its forms of prevention and how to intervene, in order to promote quality of work life, which implies physical and mental health. This study was carried out by bibliographic review of literature, based on the analysis of articles and selection of textbooks in the field of Psychiatry, with the aim of solidifying the subject and scientific articles in the database of the virtual library: Google Scholar, Pubmed, Scielo. To what extent does the use of empathy interfere in the professional's daily life? The help professions suffer from the effect of applying feelings, a spontaneous reaction that occurs at the end of the experience of an event lived by another. It is reputed as a fatigue, resulting from occupational stress in its exhaustion phase, leading to emotional anesthesia. Studies show that the reaction of STS becomes cumulative, impairing the assistance provided, generating cognitive, affective and relational changes, producing fear, sadness and depression. The literature is scarce regarding studies related to this subject in Nursing, and it is essential to develop studies to further clarify the topic. Knowledge and monitoring about Secondary Traumatic Stress provide preventive attitudes, as a means of promoting quality of life, based on the principle that prevention is still the best medicine for not getting sick.

Highlights

Secondary Traumatic Stress (STS) affects the professions of helping others in distress, results from prolonged exposure to the pain of others and is configured as a spontaneous reaction experienced by the professional after the other person goes through a stressful experience; it comes from stress in its acute phase, from emotional exhaustion, which ends up bringing losses to the professional’s life (CASTRO, 2018)
Secondary Traumatic Stress: How it interferes with the performance of the nursing professional increase in adrenaline, generating energy at the first moment and stimulating greater performance (VAZATA, 2015)
STS comes from stress in its phase of emotional exhaustion, resulting from the feelings involved by empathy and compassion

Summary

Introduction

Stress is understood as a physiological response of the organism in the face of situations that lead the organism to seek internal changes, requiring a quick individual response in the place where it is inserted. An adaptation that prepares you to face agitation as a change in behavior, in order to reestablish an internal control for your balance (TRETTENE, 2016). The health area is a favorable place to develop diseases in professionals due to stress, triggering reactions in the body and promoting momentary adaptation. The long duration of stress leads to physical damage, reaching physical and psychological exhaustion, a drop in the performance of care and in the worker’s own health, showing a feeling of exhaustion, tiredness, such as Burnout Syndrome, if the individual does not know how to manage it (MORAES, 2016)

Objectives

Methods

Results