Understanding Self-Care: Exploring its Impact of Secondary Traumatic Stress Among Social Work Students

This study explores the relationship among self-care practices and Secondary Traumatic Stress experiences (STS), among Master of Social Work (MSW) students in field training. The exploratory, quantitative study adopted a cross-sectional design. Data were collected from 141 graduate students. Despite there are no significant direct effects of self-care on STS, a notable relationship was observed between traumatic stress experiences and professional mental health support. Specifically, while trauma exposure was associated with increased arousal levels (STDYX = 0.42; 95% CI [0.27, 0.57], p <.05), the receipt of professional support for COVID-related secondary trauma significantly mitigated arousal (STDYX = − 0.18; 95% CI [-0.34, − 0.02], p <.05). Contrary to expectations, we observed no significant direct effects of self-care on STS. However, this seemingly paradoxical finding points to a compelling narrative, highlighting the intricate interplay between self-care practices, traumatic stress exposure, and the crucial role of professional support systems.