Clinicians' Posttraumatic Growth following Hurricane Katrina: The Influence of Life Events, Professional Quality of Life, and Primary and Secondary Traumatic Stress

This study was a secondary data analysis of 244 clinicians living and working in a post-Katrina environment. Using structural equation modeling, clinicians' trauma histories and primary and secondary traumatic stress were assessed in relationship to posttraumatic growth. It was expected that a greater number of traumatic life events would be related to higher levels of traumatic experience and growth. It was also expected that traumatic life experience would be associated with growth. Contrary to expectation, the initial evaluation of the path coefficients showed no significant paths between primary trauma and posttraumatic growth. A closer inspection of measures and model diagnostics revealed three distinct constructs pertaining to primary trauma, none of which were highly correlated. A revised model was then re-fit with the inclusion of two latent variables, primary trauma and posttraumatic growth, which yielded a better fit. The new model was statistically overidentified. The results showed that a greater number of traumatic life events were related to both primary and secondary traumatic stress but not growth. The latent variables revealed a statistically significant relationship between traumatic reexperiencing which related to greater posttraumatic growth in the domain, appreciation for life. Implications for theory development, clinical practice and policy, and future research are discussed.