Indirect exposure to trauma: Does resilience explain the link between optimism and secondary traumatic stress among in-patient carers?

This study examined the relationship between optimism and secondary traumatic stress (STS), including the mediating role of resilience on the association. Family carers (n = 194; female = 64.95%; married = 50%; age range = 15 to 70, mean age = 31.5 years, SD = 8.9 years) of in-patients in a Nigerian orthopaedic hospital participated in the study. The participants completed measures of secondary traumatic stress, resilience, and optimism. Path analyses results showed lower levels of secondary traumatic stress, with high optimism and resilience mediating the relationship between optimism and secondary traumatic stress, while lowering the risk for secondary traumatic stress. Resilience mediated the relationship between optimism and secondary traumatic stress, lowering the risk for secondary traumatic stress. Psychological interventions that target optimism and resilience of informal caregivers during in-patient care in hospital settings could reduce their risk for secondary traumatic stress with exposure to indirect trauma.