title: Exposure to traumatic events at work, posttraumatic symptoms and professional quality of life among midwives.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  in their line of duty, midwives are often exposed to traumatic births that may lead to symptoms of compassion fatigue (CF), which includes burnout (BO) and secondary traumatic stress (STS).Conversely, midwives derive pleasure and great satisfaction in seeing the positive effect they have on their clients. This experience is known as compassion satisfaction (CS). Together, CS and CF comprise the professional quality of life (ProQOL). The aim of this paper was to study midwives' professional quality of life and traumatic experiences. The highly stressful environment of midwives may also include primary exposure to traumatic experiences and therefore PTSD levels were also assessed.
  
  
  METHODS
  the participants (N=93) were professional midwives from four medical centers in Israel. The participants answered selfreport questionnaires that assessed their ProQOL and PTSD symptoms.
  
  
  RESULTS
  results indicated relatively high levels of CS which may mitigate, at least to some degree, the negative aspects of CF. PTSD levels significantly and positively correlated with STS and BO. Sixteen per cent presented with PTSD symptoms of clinical significance. Also, seniority was significantly and positively correlated with BO and PTSD symptoms.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  high ProQOL was found amongst the participants, with more than 74% scoring on the high range of CS. Nevertheless, we recommend further research and implementing strategies to maintain or further enhance CS and decrease CF levels. Finally, a more comprehensive understanding of the development of PTSD amongst midwives is vital in order to minimize its occurrence in the future.
authors.affiliation: The Community Stress Prevention Centre (CSPC), P.O. Box 797, Kiryat-Shmona 11016, Israel. Electronic address: ran.m.cohen@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Ran
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Cohen
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, Recanati School for Community Health Professions, Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, P.O. Box 653, Beer-Sheva 84105, Israel; PREPARED Center for Emergency Response Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, P.O. Box 653, Beer-Sheva 84105, Israel.
authors.forename: Dmitry
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Leykin
authors.affiliation: Shoenbrun Academic School of Nursing at the Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, Israel.
authors.forename: Dita
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Golan-Hadari
authors.affiliation: The Community Stress Prevention Centre (CSPC), P.O. Box 797, Kiryat-Shmona 11016, Israel; Department of Dramatherapy, Tel-Hai College, Galile-Elyon 12208, Israel.
authors.forename: Mooli
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lahad
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002055:Burnout, Professional / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology / Q000523:psychology; D000068376:Compassion Fatigue / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007557:Israel / Q000453:epidemiology; D007588:Job Satisfaction; D008875:Middle Aged; D008880:Midwifery; D009721:Nurse Midwives / Q000523:psychology*; D036801:Parturition / Q000523:psychology*; D024382:Professional Role / Q000523:psychology; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D000078329:Workforce
keywords: Compassion fatigue; Compassion satisfaction; Midwives; PTSD; Professional quality of life