The impact of resilience and job satisfaction on the negative effects of secondary trauma exposure among Polish police officers

Purpose:
The objective of the study was to examine the relationships between psychological resilience, job satisfaction and secon­dary traumatic stress among police officers, in order to identify the factors influencing the occurrence of negative consequences of indirect trauma exposure.

Methods:
The study included 237 Polish police officers from the prevention and criminal divisions. The analysis was conducted on the results of a survey obtained from 220 respondents who had contact with traumatized clients as part of their work. Their age ranged from 22 to 59 (M = 39.08; SD = 7.00). The majority of the respondents were men (83.2%). A survey and three questionnaires were used in the study, i.e., The Secondary Traumatic Stress Inventory, the Resilience Measurement Scale, and the Job Satisfaction Scale.

Results:
The results of the survey indicate that police officers exhibited relatively low levels of secondary traumatic stress symptoms. The study found a negative correlation between psychological resilience, job satisfaction and secondary traumatic stress. Job satisfaction was found to mediate the relationship between resilience and secondary traumatic stress.

Conclusions:
Psychological resilience and job satisfaction may serve as protective factors against the development of negative consequences resulting from indirect trauma exposure. The study indicates that job satisfaction may play a slightly more significant role in this regard. Increasing resilience and job satisfaction may alleviate STS symptoms and consequently contribute to increased work efficiency.