This study investigated the relationship and interactions between compassion fatigue and anticipatory traumatic reaction (ATR), both conditions arising from secondary exposure to trauma. Compassion fatigue, which often occurs for caring professionals, involves symptoms of secondary traumatic stress and job burnout. ATR is a future-focused form of distress arising from media reports and social discussions of large-scale negative events and threats. A cohort of 48 youth workers from a not-for-profit company located in the New England region completed measures of secondary traumatic stress, burnout, compassion satisfaction, general distress, and anticipatory traumatic reaction. Surveys were completed via the online Qualtrics platform. Results showed that ATR magnified the relationship between secondary traumatic stress and general distress. Moderated mediation analyses indicated that anticipatory traumatic reaction interacted with general distress in connecting secondary traumatic stress with burnout. High levels of ATR may exacerbate distress, potentially putting care workers at greater risk of burnout.

Two studies, with a total of 707 participants (recruited via a Qualtrics online survey), developed and examined the reliability and validity of a measure for Anticipatory Traumatic Reaction (ATR), a novel construct describing a form of distress that may occur in response to threat-related media reports and discussions. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis resulted in a scale comprising three subscales: feelings related to future threat; preparatory thoughts and actions; and disruption to daily activities. Internal consistency was 0.93 for the overall ATR scale. The ATR scale demonstrated convergent validity through associations with negative affect, depression, anxiety, stress, neuroticism, and repetitive negative thinking. The scale showed discriminant validity in relationships to Big Five characteristics. The ATR scale had some overlap with a measure of post-traumatic stress disorder, but also showed substantial separate variance. The ATR scale will allow researchers to further investigate anticipatory traumatic reaction in the fields of trauma, clinical practice, and social psychology.

An online experiment assessed the effectiveness of interventions intended to mitigate anticipatory traumatic reaction, a form of future-focused distress occurring in response to threat-related media reports and discussions. A stratified sample of 512 Australian adults (recruited via online Qualtrics panels) completed measures of anticipatory traumatic reaction, positive and negative affect, empathy, intolerance of uncertainty, and repetitive negative thinking. Participants then viewed a stimulus video containing a series of terrorism and crime reports, and were randomly assigned to one of seven conditions. The conditions consisted of six brief online interventions, based on standard psychological treatments for anxiety and mood disorders, and one control condition. Risk factors for experiencing higher levels of general anticipatory traumatic reaction included being female, being younger, living with a mental illness, repetitive negative thinking, intolerance of uncertainty, personal distress empathy, fantasy empathy, and a concern about world politics. A cognitive intervention to address probability neglect and a mindfulness intervention both significantly attenuated momentary anticipatory traumatic reaction. This research provides a platform for better understanding the phenomenon of anticipatory traumatic reaction and reducing levels of distress for affected individuals.