Physical Health Consequences of Vicarious Trauma: Prospective Relationship Between Hospital Patient Care Worker Vicarious Trauma Symptoms and Gastrointestinal Disorders

Details

• Journal Article:
  Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine
• Personal Author:
  Stelson, Elisabeth A. ; Sorensen, Glorian ; Berkman, Lisa F. ; Ballou, Sarah ; Hashimoto, Dean M. ; Kubzansky, Laura D. ; Sabbath, Erika L.
• Description:
  Objective: Vicarious trauma (VT) is "secondhand" trauma healthcare workers experience when interacting with trauma survivors. The prospective relationship between workers' VT symptoms and physical health has not been studied. Methods: Survey data from 775 hospital workers were linked to health insurance expenditures to identify stress-related conditions known as disorders of gut-brain interaction (DGBIs) occurrence within 1-year follow-up. VT symptoms (modeled continuously and categorically) and conditional odds of developing DGBI were assessed with multilevel logistic regression. Results: Conditional odds of DGBI increased 4% for every one-point increase in VT symptom score (95% confidence interval, 0.98 to 1.11; P = 0.17). Participants with high versus low VT symptoms had 3.40-times the conditional odds of DGBI (95% confidence interval, 1.44 to 8.06; P = 0.01). Conclusion: Workers with high versus low VT symptoms had significantly higher odds of developing DGBIs, indicating that VT may adversely impact workers' physical health.
• Subjects:
  Gastrointestinal System Mental Health Occupational Health Safety Stress Disorders, Traumatic
• Keywords:
  Author Keywords: Vicarious Trauma; Disorders Of Gut-brain Interaction; Gastrointestinal Disorders; Healthcare Workers; Hospitals; Occupational Stress; Claims Data Traumatic Incident Stress; Health Care Workers; Health Effects; Mental Health; Gastrointestinal System Disorders; Job Stress; Psychosocial Factors; Work Environment;
• Source:
  J Occup Environ Med 2025 Aug; 67(8):654-665
• ISSN:
  1076-2752
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Massachusetts ; Boston Region [OSHA]
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  12 pdf pages
• Volume:
  67
• Issue:
  8
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20071382
• Contact Point Address:
  Elisabeth Anne Stelson, PhD, MSW, LSW, MPH, 677 Huntington Ave, Boston, MA 02115
• Email:
  estelson@hsph.harvard.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2025
• Performing Organization:
  Harvard University, Boston, Massachusetts
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20070901
• End Date:
  20260831
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:c0f816b07d103e69928297f48778c8994cba8d83eb7f656c1298812172602b417712d05e156a1536cb6c434f22cdadaff5c8ac1c6bbbce2775f5b44415f74849
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/258857/cdc_258857_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 436.14 KB ]