Professional environment factors and practicing psychologists' post-traumatic growth in wartime

Abstract

<p><strong><em>Introduction</em></strong><em>. In wartime, when there is great demand for mental health professionals, it is important to understand the features of their professional activities, in particular the role of professional environment factors in promoting post-traumatic growth (PTG), which stands for positive psychological changes that occur after trauma.</em></p><p><strong><em>Aim</em></strong><em>. To explore the relationship between indicators of practicing psychologists' professional activity in wartime and measurements of PTG.</em></p><p><em>Methods. A questionnaire was used to assess professional characteristics (length of service, workload, completion of individual psychotherapy, supervisions and intervisions) and the PTGI-X (Post-Traumatic Growth Inventory-Expanded). The sample was made up of 214 practicing psychologists. The statistical methods of data processing included descriptive statistics, correlation analysis and comparative statistical analysis.</em></p><p><strong><em>Results</em></strong><em>. The practicing psychologists' workload positively correlated with the «Value of Life» scale, while the predominance of online work positively correlated with the «New Opportunities» scale. At the same time, the overall PTG indicator did not have significant correlations with indicators of professional activity. The psychologists whose number of clients significantly increased as a result of the war had higher PTG indicators compared to those psychologists whose client base did not changed.</em></p><p><strong><em>Conclusions</em></strong><em>. The obtained data show that post-traumatic growth is an indirect consequence of external professional factors and is less related to quantitative, objective indicators of professional activity. There is a need for further study of the internal psychological mechanisms that contribute to PTG. However, the found relationships indicate that the professional environment can create favorable conditions for the development of individual components of growth after war trauma.</em><br></p>