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Introduction: Nurses, assuming a wide range of clinical and patient care responsibilities in a healthcare team, are highly susceptible to direct and indirect exposure to traumatic experiences. However, literature has shown that nurses with certain traits developed a new sense of personal strength in the face of adversity, known as post‐traumatic growth (PTG). This review aimed to synthesize the best available evidence to evaluate personal and work‐related factors associated with PTG among nurses. Design: Mixed studies systematic review. Methods: Studies examining factors influencing PTG on certified nurses from all healthcare facilities were included. Published and unpublished studies were identified by searching 12 databases from their inception until 4th February 2023. Two reviewers independently screened, appraised, piloted a data collection form, and extracted relevant data. Meta‐summary, meta‐synthesis, meta‐analysis, as well as subgroup and sensitivity analyses were performed. Integration of results followed result‐based convergent design. Results: A total of 98 studies with 29,706 nurses from 18 countries were included. These included 49 quantitative, 42 qualitative, and seven mixed‐methods studies. Forty‐six influencing factors were meta‐analyzed, whereas nine facilitating factors were meta‐summarized. A PTG conceptual map was created. Four constructs emerged from the integration synthesis: (a) personal system, (b) work‐related system, (c) event‐related factors, and (d) cognitive transformation. Conclusion: The review findings highlighted areas healthcare organizations could do to facilitate PTG in nurses. Practical implications include developing intervention programs based on PTG facilitators. Further research should examine the trend of PTG and its dynamic response to different nursing factors. Clinical Relevance: Research on trauma‐focused therapies targeting nurses' mental health is lacking. Therefore, findings from this review could inform healthcare organizations on the PTG phenomenon and developing support measures for nurses through healthcare policies and clinical practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Work-related injuries can harm mental health and affect other facets of injured workers' lives. Clinicians must be aware of the problem of emotional distress and treat the whole patient after a workplace injury. More education and information are needed for clinicians, employers, and workers' compensation carriers so that injured workers can be properly screened for mental health issues and supported during treatment. Further research is needed to establish a protocol for early intervention to minimize the negative emotional and mental health effects of workplace injuries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this autoethnography was to contextualize a personal workplace bullying experience in higher education with the intention to promote action and change within higher education policy and practice. The research questions that guided this study were: How do I tell the story of my experience with workplace bullying in higher education? What are the personal and social impacts of my experience with workplace bullying? What strategies did I use to persevere through the workplace bullying experience? Bullying and incivility in higher education contexts persists despite having knowledge of the negative implications and desire of institutions for change. Three themes emerged in this autoethnography: (1) I don't even recognize myself anymore; (2) Reliving past trauma: I thought that part of my life was over; and (3) Coping and Survivor's Guilt. This autoethnography adds to the body of literature surrounding bullying and incivility in the workplace; offers examples of how workplace bullying and incivility impacted a victim's professional and personal life, along with the victim's psychological and physical well-being; and facilitates critical reflection on this experience in order to generate innovative methods to address the prevalence and minimize the impacts of similar experiences in the higher education environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Individuals who experience a workplace trauma are at a high risk of developing posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Most of these people return to work soon after the trauma (i.e., experience early‐stage natural exposure). This study aims to explore the response pattern of workers who have experienced a workplace trauma and early‐stage natural exposure through network analysis and provide insights into the potential impact of early‐stage natural exposure. Methods: Our study included 278 workers directly experiencing the workplace explosion in the Tianjin Economic and Technological Development Zone. A partial correlation network analysis was used to explore the PTSD symptoms relationship and identify central symptoms. Results: The results suggest that emotional numbness, difficulty in concentration, re‐experiencing symptoms, and avoidance of thoughts are the most central symptoms, reflecting a "distraction‐avoidance" pattern. Conclusions: The current study found that workers who experienced workplace trauma exhibited a "distraction‐avoidance" pattern, which helps deepen our understanding of the PTSD network and leads to some suggestions on intervention measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Organizational trauma cuts across all sectors, slamming organizations from without, erupting from within, or slowly poisoning the organizational culture over time. The authors share stories from their experiences as practitioners, leaders and consultants who have worked with organizations and teams to identify sources of trauma, understand the resulting destructive organizational patterns, and gain constructive strategies for organizational resilience and well-being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: After a traumatic incident in the workplace organisations want to provide support for their employees to prevent PTSD. However, what is safe and effective to offer has not yet been established, despite many organisations offering some form of intervention after a traumatic event. Objective: To systematically review the evidence for post-incident psychosocial interventions offered within one month of a workplace trauma, and to compare the content, effectiveness and acceptability of these interventions. Given the lack of a yet clearly established evidence-base in this field, we sought to examine both published empirical research as well as guidelines published by expert groups working with staff in high-risk roles. Methods: We conducted systematic searches for empirical research across bibliographic databases and searched online for clinical practice guidelines to April 2023. We were also referred to potentially relevant literature by experts in workplace trauma. Both empirical research and clinical guidelines were appraised for their quality. Results: A total of 80 research studies and 11 clinical practice guidelines were included in the review. Interventions included Critical Incident Stress Debriefing (CISD), Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM), unspecified Debriefing, Trauma Risk Management (TRiM), Psychological First Aid (PFA), EMDR, CBT and group counselling. Most research and guidance were of poor quality. The findings of this review do not demonstrate any harm caused by CISD, CISM, PFA, TRiM, EMDR, group counselling or CBT interventions when delivered in a workplace setting. However, they do not conclusively demonstrate benefits of these interventions nor do they establish superiority of any specific intervention. Generic debriefing was associated with some negative outcomes. Current clinical guidelines were inconsistent with the current research evidence base. Nevertheless, interventions were generally valued by workers. Conclusions: Better quality research and guidance is urgently needed, including more detailed exploration of the specific aspects of delivery of post-incident interventions. Organisations often seek to provide some form of psychosocial intervention after a traumatic event in the workplace. Previous reviews have contraindicated particular forms of 'debriefing', however, the evidence for post-incident psychosocial interventions in the workplace has not previously been systematically reviewed. Research evidence was generally of poor quality with limited evidence of effectiveness and clinical guidelines were inconsistent with the evidence. Nevertheless, research did not demonstrate harm from most established interventions and support was valued by workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACTBackground: After a traumatic incident in the workplace organisations want to provide support for their employees to prevent PTSD. However, what is safe and effective to offer has not yet been established, despite many organisations offering some form of intervention after a traumatic event.Objective: To systematically review the evidence for post-incident psychosocial interventions offered within one month of a workplace trauma, and to compare the content, effectiveness and acceptability of these interventions. Given the lack of a yet clearly established evidence-base in this field, we sought to examine both published empirical research as well as guidelines published by expert groups working with staff in high-risk roles.Methods: We conducted systematic searches for empirical research across bibliographic databases and searched online for clinical practice guidelines to April 2023. We were also referred to potentially relevant literature by experts in workplace trauma. Both empirical research and clinical guidelines were appraised for their quality.Results: A total of 80 research studies and 11 clinical practice guidelines were included in the review. Interventions included Critical Incident Stress Debriefing (CISD), Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM), unspecified Debriefing, Trauma Risk Management (TRiM), Psychological First Aid (PFA), EMDR, CBT and group counselling. Most research and guidance were of poor quality. The findings of this review do not demonstrate any harm caused by CISD, CISM, PFA, TRiM, EMDR, group counselling or CBT interventions when delivered in a workplace setting. However, they do not conclusively demonstrate benefits of these interventions nor do they establish superiority of any specific intervention. Generic debriefing was associated with some negative outcomes. Current clinical guidelines were inconsistent with the current research evidence base. Nevertheless, interventions were generally valued by workers.Conclusions: Better quality research and guidance is urgently needed, including more detailed exploration of the specific aspects of delivery of post-incident interventions.

Reporting on a qualitative study involving in-depth interviews, this paper seeks to elucidate the nature and factors associated with emotional responses in archivists working with records detailing human suffering and atrocity, and working with individuals in the community whose lives intersect with the archives. Results detail the impact of these exposures on archivists; and factors influencing emotional responses to traumatic exposures such as the nature of exposure, personal history and connections to the traumatic material, professional engagement and expectations, and the organizational context. Recommendations for mitigating the emotional toll of archival work arising from the data are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The theory of workplace trauma as presented in this paper builds upon the fundamental principles of the betrayal trauma theory. In response to the family level of hierarchy that is established and the increased level of betrayal to those employees who are dependent, the management industry needs a theory to understand the experiences that happen within the organization. As leaders, we are responsible for creating a positive working environment for our employees but all too often that is not the situation that they experience. Half of all employees in the United States can expect to work for an abusive leader at least once in their lives. This means eighty million people can expect to experience destructive culture because their leaders are playing favorites, humiliating, bullying, publicly criticizing, name-calling, and making threats. Destructive culture affects employees by causing depression, anxiety, low job satisfaction, reduced performance, health problems, and trauma responses. Organizations can expect to have reduced employee morale, decreased productivity, and increased turnover. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Background Although numerous studies on occupational post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) have been conducted prior to the 1950–2010 seminal systematic review by Skogstad et al., the prevalence, risk factors, and impact of this disorder following traumatic events in occupational settings remain unclear. This study aims to address this knowledge gap by reviewing the literature published after 2010. Methods We reviewed literature from databases such as PubMed and Google Scholar using PRISMA guidelines to identify studies that address occupational PTSD and examined the status (prevalence or incidence), the risk factors, and the health effects of PTSD among workers. Results In total, 123 articles were identified, and finally, 31 (25.2%) articles were selected after excluding duplicates. Various occupational traumatic physical events were reported such as natural or manmade disaster, explosion, accident, handling refugee corpses, or bullying at work. Risk of PTSD was closely associated with working conditions, severity of injury, history of mental disorder, occurrence of psychiatric symptoms at the time of the event, personality, interpersonal relationships, etc. Workers with PTSD were likely to experience a deterioration of physical and psychological health and impairment of social and occupational functioning. Conclusions Our review suggests that many workers remain highly vulnerable to occupational PTSD and its consequences.

Aims: Among nursing professionals, our aims were to examine (a) self‐reported traumatic experiences, (b) differences in post‐traumatic growth (i.e. positive psychological growth after experiencing a traumatic event) by nursing professional level and (c) demographic, work‐related, behavioural and traumatic experience covariates of post‐traumatic growth. Background: Trauma experience among nursing professionals is higher than observed in the general population. Due to the nature of their work environment, workplace trauma rates are particularly alarming. Understanding post‐traumatic growth among nursing professionals may guide interventions to enhance well‐being. Method: A secondary analysis of cross‐sectional survey data from nursing professionals (N = 299). Demographic, work‐related, behavioural, trauma experience categories and post‐traumatic growth variables were examined. Results: Advanced practice nurses and clinical nurses reported higher rates of workplace trauma, as compared to nursing assistants. Higher post‐traumatic growth scores were associated with having a postgraduate degree, serving the paediatric population and lower frequency of alcohol use. Lower post‐traumatic growth scores were associated with being married/widowed, being an advanced practice provider or clinical nurse, working in the intensive care unit and reporting workplace, family/personal stress and undisclosed trauma. Conclusions: Nursing professionals have several demographic, work‐related, behavioural and traumatic experience‐related variables associated with and that explain variances in post‐traumatic growth. Implication for Nursing Management: Targeted screening and individualized treatment based on nursing professional level should be considered to support trauma recovery and post‐traumatic growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Various psychological trauma management programs (PTMPs) are offered to assist employees who have been exposed to a traumatic event in the workplace. There is, however, limited literature available on how employees in high-risk occupations experience these programs. This study qualitatively explored the experiences of PTMPs from the perspective of employees working in three high-risk occupations. The purpose of this study was to explore the experiences of the participants in order to compile a framework that could help support and improve the productivity and wellbeing of employees affected by work-related trauma. The study used a qualitative research design based on an approach informed by interpretivism and social constructivism. A multiple-case study was used as research strategy to incorporate three sectors in South Africa, namely mining, policing, and emergency medical services. Data were gathered through semi-structured interviews and focus groups, and analyzed using thematic analysis. The findings across the three sectors showed effective strategies considered by participants to manage psychological trauma. These strategies include multiple counseling sessions, face-to-face counseling, regaining control, and receiving support. Strategies that were viewed as ineffective include inability of counselors to relate to the participants’ work environments, lack of involvement, lack of supervisor support, unavailability of counseling and specialized skills, premature resuming of duties, and a single-dimension approach. Based on the findings, an intervention framework is proposed to address psychological trauma in high-risk occupations.

Background and Methods: In this study, we surveyed 761 psychiatric hospital staff (69% women, 71% full-time, 56% nursing) regarding their exposure to trauma in the workplace; symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, and anxiety; help seeking; and perceived barriers for help seeking.Results: Significant proportions of staff met the screening cutoffs for probable PTSD (16%), depression (20%), and anxiety (16%). Comorbidity was high, with approximately half of those meeting the screening cutoff for PTSD also meeting the cutoffs for depression or anxiety. Only PTSD symptoms were uniquely associated with exposure to trauma in the workplace, but both PTSD and depression symptoms significantly predicted help seeking. Staff who met one or more screening cutoffs perceived more barriers to help seeking such as difficulty with accessing services.Conclusion: Implications for supporting psychiatric staff exposed to trauma are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Although numerous studies on occupational post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) have been conducted prior to the 1950-2010 seminal systematic review by Skogstad et al., the prevalence, risk factors, and impact of this disorder following traumatic events in occupational settings remain unclear. This study aims to address this knowledge gap by reviewing the literature published after 2010.Methods: We reviewed literature from databases such as PubMed and Google Scholar using PRISMA guidelines to identify studies that address occupational PTSD and examined the status (prevalence or incidence), the risk factors, and the health effects of PTSD among workers.Results: In total, 123 articles were identified, and finally, 31 (25.2%) articles were selected after excluding duplicates. Various occupational traumatic physical events were reported such as natural or manmade disaster, explosion, accident, handling refugee corpses, or bullying at work. Risk of PTSD was closely associated with working conditions, severity of injury, history of mental disorder, occurrence of psychiatric symptoms at the time of the event, personality, interpersonal relationships, etc. Workers with PTSD were likely to experience a deterioration of physical and psychological health and impairment of social and occupational functioning.Conclusions: Our review suggests that many workers remain highly vulnerable to occupational PTSD and its consequences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traumatic events at work can have debilitating effects on employees. This pilot study aims to describe the trauma exposure, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) severity, functioning level, and general and work-related quality of life of employees who experienced a workplace trauma and consequently developed PTSD. Forty-four participants with current PTSD were recruited and assessed using semistructured interviews and questionnaires. ANOVAs were performed to assess differences in outcomes between employees from different work settings. Specific types of traumatic events appear to occur in particular types of occupations. Participants manifested severe PTSD, low levels of current functioning, and poor general and work-related quality of life. Overall, these results did not significantly differ between employees in different occupations. Unemployed participants showed poorer outcomes than those who were still working despite their current difficulties. PTSD severity and the presence of comorbid major depression significantly predicted several quality-of-life outcomes. In conclusion, PTSD stemming from workplace trauma appears to have major consequences for employees. Clinical implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of the study was to determine whether post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) with Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) among urban public transit employees who were exposed to a workplace traumatic event is associated with greater PTSD severity over the 6-month follow-up period compared to PTSD without MDD, and also to identify predictors of PTSD severity among these employees. Information about Axis-I diagnosis and PTSD severity were collected from the SCID-I and the Modified PTSD Symptom Scale (MPSS) respectively. PTSD without MDD (N = 29) and PTSD with MDD (N = 37) groups were not significantly different in terms of PTSD severity. The severity of depression (p = 0.01), female (p = 0.01), non-Caucasian (p = 0.01), perceived high workplace related stress (p = 0.02), and history of lifetime trauma (p = 0.01) were significantly associated with greater PTSD severity after controlling other variables. This study highlights the importance of modifiable variables for reducing PTSD severity after a workplace traumatic event in transit employees. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Within the profession of social work there is an enduring discourse about the integration of practice and research, with academic researchers perennially expressing a concern about practitioners inadequately incorporating evidenced-based research into practice. This article, based on a paper presented at the Third International Conference on Practice Research, positions practice-based research as common ground between the at-times adversarial positions of practitioners and academic researchers. It first describes a practice-based study that both advanced social work knowledge in general and contributed to improving practice specifically. Citing examples from the study, the article then explores an evolving definition of practice research and illustrates several factors that facilitate or impede a practitioner initiating and conducting research within a practice setting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in the occupational context, especially following workplace robbery, is still under-investigated. Aims To evaluate PTSD incidence and risk factors among bank employee victims of robbery voluntarily joining an employer-sponsored post-robbery support programme. Methods The programme entailed a structured support interview with robbery victims within 15 days of the robbery and a follow-up psychological assessment 45 days after. A self-reported questionnaire on personal variables and robbery characteristics was administered to participants at the first support session (T1). Interviews on employees' psychophysical health and their opinion about the support programme were administered individually at follow-up (T2). The Impact of Event Scale (IES) was administered both at T1 and T2. Results There were 383 participants. At T2, 13% of subjects had an IES score >34, a cut-off suggestive of PTSD. In a multi-variate model, feelings of helplessness and terror during the robbery and the number of previous robberies were associated with a PTSD diagnosis. After including IES score at T1, other variables lost statistical significance. Conclusions Our findings showed that PTSD is common among employee victims of workplace robbery. Our results also suggest the importance of subjective variables, such as personal perception of robbery severity and early emotional reaction, in identifying people at higher risk of developing PTSD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: Traumatic events often occur in workplace settings and can lead to stress reactions such as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). One such workplace is the transportation industry, where employees are often exposed to trauma. However, extant research shows that a considerable proportion of people with PTSD do not seek specialty mental health treatment.OBJECTIVE: In this qualitative study, we sought to better understand the experience of a traumatic event at work and the barriers and motivating factors for seeking mental health treatment. PARTICIPANTS: Twenty-nine Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) employees participated in a one-on-one interview, 18 soon after the traumatic event and 11 after entering a specialized treatment program. METHODS: Semi-structured, one-on-one interviews were conducting using qualitative description and analyzed using content analysis. RESULTS: Participants described emotional responses after the trauma such as guilt, anger, disbelief as particularly difficult, and explained that barriers to seeking help included the overwhelming amount and timing of paperwork related to the incident as well as negative interactions with management. Motivating factors included family and peer support, as well as financial and emotional issues which persuaded some to seek help. CONCLUSIONS: Seeking treatment is a multifactorial process. Implications and recommendations for the organization are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traumatic workplace events (critical incidents) occur with unfortunate regularity and with significant repercussions for affected organizations. Critical incident stress management (CISM) units, often a specialty component of employee assistance programs, provide consultation and support for workplace incidents. While CISM seeks to support both individual and organizational outcomes, trauma research oriented toward individual traumatic stress dominates the literature, mirroring practitioner training that tends to emphasize clinical over organizational practice. This research contributes to less-prevalent studies that explore organizational-level outcomes. Despite the facts that social workers play a central role in critical incident response and CISM units collect massive amounts of practice data, there are no published social work studies capitalizing on the potential of existing critical incident data. Employing the methodology of clinical data mining, this practice-based, exploratory research examines the propositions that incident severity level associates with several post-incident organizational outcomes. Several findings translate into considerations for evidence-informed CISM practice in the areas of intake assessment, organizational consultation, and incident response planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Psychological morbidity following trauma occurring in the workplace can impact return to work but few studies have investigated this. Methods This study was a secondary analysis of administrative data from a specialized workers' compensation board psychological trauma program in Toronto, Canada. Unadjusted and adjusted logistic regression analyses were used to examine factors associated with working status at the time of assessment for workers referred within 1 year of traumatic event. Results Having a disrupted marriage (OR = 3.06, 95% CI 1.14-8.20), sustaining a permanently impairing physical injury (OR = 2.76, 95% CI 1.01-7.55) and the presence of secondary psychiatric diagnoses (OR = 2.55, 95% CI 1.34-4.83) were significantly associated with not working at the time of assessment. When the analyses were subset to workers without permanently impairing physical injuries, only the presence of additional psychiatric diagnoses was significantly associated with not working (OR = 3.81, 95% CI 1.48-9.83). Conclusions Return to work after trauma can be a complicated and difficult to treat problem. Social supports, physical rehabilitation and treatment of complex mental health problems likely play a crucial role in improving outcomes [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The consequences of the traumatic death of an organizational member can have several effects on the organization, work groups, and individuals. Loss, grief, and bereavement for such an event often negatively interfere with the organization’s effectiveness, obstruct interpersonal relationships, and increase negative cognitive responses. An increased understanding of loss, grief, and bereavement can help HRD professionals to prepare organizations for traumatic death, assist their members with the bereavement process and, therefore, get on with their work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Psychological trauma in the workplace is gaining recognition as an important cause of workplace disability but little is known about the workers who are affected. The Psychological Trauma Program (PTP) in Toronto (Canada) is a specialized provincial worker's compensation board assessment program for workers with psychological sequelae of workplace trauma.Aims To characterize workers presenting to the PTP in terms of demographic, occupational, traumatic exposure and diagnostic variables.Methods A retrospective secondary analysis of all workers referred to the PTP for assessment within 1 year of traumatic event between 1999 and 2006.Results Five hundred and thiry-one referred workers were included in the study. Most workers were working-age male (76%), married (65%) and labourers (43%). Nearly half were born outside Canada. Post-traumatic stress disorder was the primary diagnosis in 44%. Fifty-eight percent had one or more secondary diagnoses. For just over half of the workers, the traumatic event resulted in a permanent physical impairment.Conclusions Specialist referral may be indicated for workers experiencing prolonged recovery following workplace trauma. Male workers and those with co-morbidities or permanent injuries may be more likely to require referral. Individualized treatment approaches are likely important; however, more research is needed to guide future interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mobbing practices have recently been increasing in organizations. The damage of mobbing against employees and organizations has created a need for precautions. The most crucial point in struggling with mobbing is to provide the awareness of victims and managers. Although mobbing practices have been frequently seen in public and private sector in Turkey, what this process in organizations means has not been known well yet. In all over the world, especially in developed countries, preventive and improving studies have been applied to solve mobbing problems. The literature about the precautive actions to prevent mobbing and applicability of these precautions are so limited. This study analyzes the preventive actions that can be adopted by any organization for mobbing management, except personnel techniques such as rehabilitation and therapy are not included. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The definition and occurrence of traumatic events is expanding and impacts everyone's lives in some way. The degree to which a violent event impacts an individual, a group, a workplace or the community varies. Unfortunately violent events are all too common. Businesses are realizing the significance of violence as a workplace problem and the varying degrees of trauma that has a devastating impact on employee retention, workplace functionality and personal well-being. The events can include industrial or natural disasters; worksite accidents; organizational changes; suicide; homicides; robbery; assault; threats of violence and even terrorism. How prepared an organization is varies and may be correlated with how resilient individuals and the entire workplace are after workplace violence/trauma. This article focuses on what workplace violence and trauma includes, the effects of repeat events, how resilient people are while trying to prevent additional events if possible in the workplace. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Various psychological trauma management programs (PTMPs) are offered to assist employees who have been exposed to a traumatic event in the workplace. There is, however, limited literature available on how employees in high-risk occupations experience these programs. This study qualitatively explored the experiences of PTMPs from the perspective of employees working in three high-risk occupations. The purpose of this study was to explore the experiences of the participants in order to compile a framework that could help support and improve the productivity and wellbeing of employees affected by work-related trauma. The study used a qualitative research design based on an approach informed by interpretivism and social constructivism. A multiple-case study was used as research strategy to incorporate three sectors in South Africa, namely mining, policing, and emergency medical services. Data were gathered through semi-structured interviews and focus groups, and analyzed using thematic analysis. The findings across the three sectors showed effective strategies considered by participants to manage psychological trauma. These strategies include multiple counseling sessions, face-to-face counseling, regaining control, and receiving support. Strategies that were viewed as ineffective include inability of counselors to relate to the participants' work environments, lack of involvement, lack of supervisor support, unavailability of counseling and specialized skills, premature resuming of duties, and a single-dimension approach. Based on the findings, an intervention framework is proposed to address psychological trauma in high-risk occupations., (Copyright © 2020 Jonker, Graupner and Rossouw.)