Child welfare workers often experience work-related traumatic events and may be at risk of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which can hinder early interventions for child abuse. This study examined the association between each single work-related traumatic event experienced by child welfare workers and the cumulative number of traumatic event types with PTSD symptoms. A checklist of traumatic events was used to investigate work-related traumatic events. The PTSD checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-5) was used to screen for PTSD symptoms. Two multivariate analyses were performed. A total of 140 workers were included in the analyses. In the first multivariate analysis, the event, "Witnessed a parent violently beating, hitting, kicking, or otherwise injuring a child or the other parent during work" (β = 11.96; 95% CI, 2.11-21.80; p < 0.05) and resilience (β = -0.60; 95% CI, -0.84 to -0.36; p < 0.01) were significantly associated with PTSD symptoms, as was resilience in the second multivariate analysis (β = -0.60; 95% CI, -0.84 to -0.36; p < 0.01). The association between the cumulative number of event types and PTSD symptoms was not significant, but it was stronger when the cumulative number was four or more. The findings suggest the importance of reducing child welfare worker exposure to traumatic events.
Keywords: child welfare; cumulative trauma exposure; event list; post-traumatic stress disorder; resilience; traumatic event.