Does Helping Hurt?

Aim

Determine if there are increased psychological risks of providing psychological support  to colleagues.

Outcomes

Perceived burnout was significantly higher for respondent’s substantive role (M = 22.41,  SD = 6.14) than with their peer responder role (M = 17.43, SD = 4.12), t(67) = -7.065, p < .001, d = -.857. Perceived secondary traumatic stress was significantly higher with in respondent’s substantive role (M = 19.59, SD = 6.04) than within their peer responder  role (M = 16.96, SD = 3.70), Z = -3.284, p = .001, r =-.413.

Background

Health workers often have jobs that carry an elevated risk of exposure to adverse events,  which can negatively impact their mental health. (WHO, 2025). Alongside skyrocketing demands, healthcare staff also face psychological hazards including critical events, traumatic incidents and violence and aggression. Providing a listening ear Peer Responder (PR) promote others' mental health but does it negatively affect their own mental health?

Discussion

As a wellbeing intervention Metro North has supported the development and growth the  Peer Responder Program. Metro North has 350 Peer Responders (65 of which are in mental health) that provide Psychological First Aid (PFA) to their colleagues following exposure to psychological hazards such as high job demands, poor workplace relationships  or justice, critical incidents, violence or aggression. By providing a listening ear, Peer Responders promote safety, calm, connectedness, self-efficacy and hope. BUT what this also means for this group of people is they are not only exposing themselves to  the suffering our consumers experience, but the suffering our colleagues experience as well. This carries inherent risk. Risk that didn’t sit comfortably with me because I didn’t know enough about it and there was no literature available.

There’s considerable research on the people we provide care to, but not a lot on the people providing care. We only have a limited amount of “psychological capacity” to go around. I don’t want to throw out the balance of what PR have available for themselves, their loved ones and our consumers. We already know with the AOD workforce survey, 21% of people report starting their day exhausted, 41% workers reported working overtime every week, 58% report constant time pressure due to heavy workloads. We don’t want to in anyway increase stress, negative thoughts, or their overall wellbeing. This research provides further strength to the benefit of Peer Support within the hospital setting. There are many HHS that are trying to gain support for standing similar programs - hopefully promoting
the gains to the helper as well as the helpee will assist in advocating.

References

Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2022). National Study of Mental Health and Wellbeing  Canberra 2020-2022. Australian Government. https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/health/mental-health/nationalstudy-mental-health-and-wellbeing/latest-release.

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. (2023). Suicide & self-harm monitoring data. Australian  Government. https://www.aihw.gov.au/suicide-self-harm-monitoring/data/suicide-self-harm-monitoring-data

Oliveros, B., Agulló-Tomás, E., Márquez-Álvarez, L. J. (2022). Risk and Protective Factors of Mental Health Conditions: Impact of Employment, Deprivation  and Social Relationships. International Journal of Environmental Research Public Health, 19(11).

Queensland Health. (2023). Workforce Mental Health and Wellbeing Framework. Queensland Government https://qheps.health.qld.gov.au/csd/employee-centre/workhealth-safety-wellbeing/workplace-wellbeing