A measure for assessing workplace traumatic events in mental health professionals.

Those who work in a mental health profession are exposed to indirect trauma through detailed accounts of traumatic events from service users. Mental health professionals are also exposed to directly traumatic events at work such as verbal aggression, abuse or harassment, and workplace violence. Previous research suggests that exposure to direct and indirect trauma places mental health professionals at risk of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and other disorders of psychological distress. The extent and severity of the psychological consequences of such exposure in mental health staff remains a topic of interest in emerging research. With that being said, to date no measure currently exists to screen mental health professionals for potentially traumatic events in their working life. The purpose of this research is to create, test, and validate a workplace traumatic events checklist for mental health professionals and fill this gap in contemporary research methodologies.