The mental health social worker, with the intrinsic characteristic that provides the service by becoming the mediator him or herself, according to job satisfaction and commitment it significantly affects the effect of mental health service and service of client. The secondary traumatic stress that mental health social worker experiences during the process of providing service to clients that have experienced trauma leads to exhaustion declining the job performance ability that not only does it lower the service quality but also cause depression or chronic anxiety which becomes one of the reason to change jobs.
During the process that mental health social worker support clients that have experienced small or big traumatic experience in the community mental health site, considering that it''s high risk job in post-traumatic stress disorder by secondary traumatic experience, the research is very necessary. However, the research on secondary traumatic stress that is experienced during the process that mental health social er provides service to clients.
This research, identifies the effect of secondary traumatic stress of mental health social worker, who s at community social mental health site, has on job satisfaction and look into moderating effect to see if ego-resiliency and social support is possible as protecting factor in relations of secondary traumatic stress and job satisfaction.
This research performed mail survey for 3 weeks from Sept. 1st to Sept. 21st, 2012 targeting mental health social worker that works in 38 mental health center such as SeoulㆍGyeonggiㆍIncheonㆍChungchung region and such, using 285 mails excluding 13 mails that had insufficient survey answers from 298 returned survey mails for the final analysis. With the collected data performed frequency analysis and descriptive statistical analysis, reliability analysis, factor analysis, t-test, ANOVA, correlation analysis, multiple regression analysis, and hierarchical regression analysis by using SPSS 18.0 for Window.
The main research result that is revealed in this research is as followed.
First, the job satisfaction of mental health social worker, ego-resiliency, social support showed to be higher than average level, and the secondary traumatic stress shown to be lower than average.
Second, in the correlation of job satisfaction and main variable the higher age and education, in case of single, 1st level mental health social worker, the less number of workers, lower the secondary traumatic stress, and higher ego-resiliency and social support is the job satisfaction shows to be high.
Third, job satisfaction showed meaningful difference according to age, education, marital status, license rank, current center work experience, and employment number, also secondary traumatic stress showed meaningful difference according to gender and employee number. ego-resiliency showed meaningful difference in age, final education, marital status, license grade, current center work experience, and employee number, also social support showed meaningful difference only in number of employees.
Forth, secondary traumatic stress, ego-resiliency and social support shows to have meaningful effect on job satisfaction; also, the lower secondary traumatic stress is and the higher ego-resiliency and social support is the job satisfaction showed to he higher.
Fifth, the ego-resiliency on secondary traumatic stress and job satisfaction shown to have moderating effect. The higher secondary traumatic stress is the job satisfaction shows to be low in all high ego-resiliency group and low ego-resiliency group. However, the low ego-resiliency group shown to have low level of job satisfaction decreasing than high ego-resiliency group. The social support shows main effect on secondary traumatic stress and job satisfaction but doesn''t show moderating effect. Such shows meaning that negative effect of job satisfaction by social support doesn''t change by social support.
Through such research result the undertone and proposal of this research is as followed.
First, the secondary traumatic stress that mental health social workers experience not only cause the negative emotions and behavioral change but also become the reason the reason for leaving mental health site. Therefore, it is meaningful that awareness was drawn out from understanding the secondary traumatic stress that mental health social workers experience also definite and continuous interest is needed to prevent such.
Second, in relations with job satisfaction and the secondary traumatic stress of mental health social worker it is proven that ego-resiliency is an important adjustment variable it is meaningful that the measures that can ease the negative effect on job satisfaction of secondary traumatic stress was sought.
Third, although the social support shown to have no moderating effect between secondary traumatic stress of mental health social worker and job satisfaction, social support is very important resource therefore it is necessary to strengthen it.
Fourth, because community mental health center is a place with environmental characteristics that causes secondary traumatic stress it is necessary to seek management measures that can ease the environmental characteristic. Lack of mental support, low wage, weak job environment, and such effects job satisfaction and the effort to improve the working condition and environment of community mental health center is needed.