Psychological distress, exhaustion, and work-related correlates among interpreters working in refugee care: results of a nationwide online survey in Germany

Figures & data

Table 1. Sociodemographic and workplace-specific characteristics regarding the main work setting.

Sample characteristic	n	%	M	SD	Mdn	IQR
Sociodemographic Variables
Gender: Female	115	70.1%	–	–
Age	–	–	38.84	12.35	38	21
Marital status
Single	70	42.7%	–	–
In a relationship	16	9.8%	–	–
Married	58	35.4%	–	–
Divorced	13	7.9%	–	–
Widowed	3	1.8%	–	–
Other	4	2.4%	–	–
Years of education	–	–	16.80	3.42	17	4
Highest professional education/degree
No professional education	23	14.0%	–	–
Completed apprenticeship or comparable qualification	27	16.5%	–	–
Bachelor	54	32.9%	–	–
Master craftsman or comparable qualification	3	1.8%	–	–
Diploma/Master/State examination	51	31.1%	–	–
PhD or higher degree	6	3.7%	–	–
Ever fled or displaced	45	27.4%	–	–
Ever experienced a trauma (PC-PTSD-5)	83	50.6%	–	–
Degree in interpreting (university or college)	24	14.6%	–	–
Training for interpreting for refugees	110	67.1%	–	–
Main work setting
Psychotherapy	38	23.2%
Authorities	59	36.0%
Medical	22	13.4%
Counselling	39	23.8%
Other Setting	6	3.7%
Interpreter-specific work variables related to the main work setting
Work experience in years			5.17	5.97	3	3.25
Employment situation
Freelancer	108	65.9%
Employed	37	22.6%
Both	19	11.6%
Weekly working hours
1–10 h	114	69.5%
11–20 h	18	11.0%
21–30 h	12	7.3%
31–40 h	19	11.6%
>40 h	1	0.6%
Traumatic content in sessions in %			34.94	28.70	20	50
Frequency of supervision
Never	78	47.6%
Less than once every 6 months	36	22.0%
Every 6 months	29	17.7%
Every 3 months	11	6.7%
Once a month	7	4.3%
More than once a month	3	1.8%

Table 2. Descriptive statistics of the psychopathology and work-related variables (n = 164).

	M	SD	Range	Mdn	IQR	M (SD) representative sample ^a	t(163)
BSI-18 GSI	9.02	9.07	0–43	6	11	4.66 (7.44)^a	6.1546***
BSI-18 – depression	3.74	4.15	0–18	2.5	5.25	1.76 (3.23)^a	6.1049***
BSI-18 – anxiety	3.01	3.32	0–17	2	3	1.44 (2.59)^a	6.0555***
BSI-18 – somatization	2.27	2.94	0–15	1	3.25	1.46 (2.58)^a	3.5192***
CBI – work-related exhaustion	25.78	18.31	0–93	23.32	28.57	–	–
CBI – client-related exhaustion	21.06	19.14	0–96	16.67	29.17	–	–
JSS – contingency reward	16.05	4.49	4–24	16	7	–	–
JSS – pay	13.65	4.84	4–24	13.5	7	–	–

Note. *p < .05. **p < .01. ***p < .001. BSI-18 GSI: Brief Symptom Inventory-18 General Severity Index; CBI: Copenhagen Burnout Questionnaire; JSS: Job Satisfaction Survey ^a representative survey from Franke et al. (2017).

Table 3. Correlations of sociodemographic, work-specific and psychopathological variables (n = 164).

Measure	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14
1 Female gender ^a
2 Age ^b	−0.02
3 Flight ^a	−0.19*	0.10
4 Trauma ^a	−0.03	−0.05	0.21**
5 Interpreter education ^a	−0.11	0.22**	−0.18*	−0.14
6 Training ^a	0.05	0.06	−0.11	−0.03	0.07
7 Work experience ^b	0.00	0.57***	0.17*	−0.13	0.16*	0.06
8 Weekly working hours ^b	−0.19*	0.20**	−0.02	−0.15*	0.38***	0.23**	0.22**
9 Traumatic content ^b	0.05	−0.07	0.05	0.15*	−0.11	0.20**	−0.03	0.12
10 Supervision ^a	−0.10	0.10	−0.13	−0.11	0.23**	0.17*	−0.02	0.21**	−0.01
11 BSI-18 GSI ^b	0.07	−0.36***	−0.02	0.19*	−0.27***	−0.04	−0.17*	−0.13	0.15*	−0.24**
12 CBI – work ^b	−0.03	−0.17*	0.05	0.12	−0.29***	−0.04	−0.08	−0.09	0.24**	−0.19*	0.60***
13 CBI – client ^b	−0.14	−0.19*	0.09	0.01	−0.23**	−0.09	0.01	−0.10	0.12	−0.14	0.42***	0.65***
14 JSS – reward ^b	0.00	0.08	−0.07	−0.13	0.19**	0.11	0.08	0.22**	0.02	0.10	−0.18*	−0.37***	−0.48***
15 JSS – pay ^b	−0.04	−0.10	−0.01	−0.10	0.15	0.03	−0.06	0.18*	0.02	0.09	−0.17*	−0.37***	−0.36***	0.67***

Note. *p < .05. **p < .01. ***p < .001. Gender: 0 = male, 1 = female; Flight: 0 = no, 1 = yes; Trauma exposure to trauma according to the PC-PTSD-5: 0 = no, 1 = yes; interpreter education: 0 = no degree in interpreting, 1 = degree in interpreting; training: 0 = no training; 1 = ever completed training for interpreting for refugee clients; supervision: 0 = never had supervision, 1 = have supervision (less than once every 6 months, every 6 months, every 3 months, once a month, more than once a month) BSI-18 GSI: Brief Symptom Inventory-18 General Severity Index; CBI: Copenhagen Burnout Questionnaire, work = work-related exhaustion, client = client-related exhaustion; JSS: Job Satisfaction Survey, reward = contingency reward; ^a point-biserial correlation; ^b Spearman rank correlation.

Table 4. Hierarchical regression for psychological distress (BSI-18).

Variable	B	SE B	β	p
Step 1^a
Constant	15.81	2.38		<.001
Age	−0.21	0.05	−.28***	<.001
Trauma	2.36	1.35	.13	.08
Step 2^b
Constant	15.96	2.42		<.001
Age	−0.20	0.06	−.28**	.002
Trauma	2.11	1.37	.12	.12
Interpreter education	−3.42	1.97	−.13	.08
Work experience^e	0.07	0.13	.04	.61
Step 3^c
Constant	15.67	2.59		<.001
Age	−0.18	0.06	−.25**	.004
Trauma	1.52	1.37	.08	.27
Interpreter education	−2.33	1.99	−.09	.24
Work experience^e	0.03	0.13	.02	.81
Traumatic content^e	0.04	0.02	.13	.10
Supervision^e	−2.77	1.38	−.15*	.04
Step 4^d
Constant	20.62	3.49		<.001
Age	−0.19	0.06	−.25**	.003
Trauma	1.11	1.37	.06	.42
Interpreter education	−1.48	2.01	−.06	.46
Work experience^e	0.02	0.13	.01	.88
Traumatic content^e	0.04	0.02	.14	.07
Supervision^e	−2.64	1.37	−.15	.06
Satisfaction with pay^e	−0.27	0.20	−.14	.17
Satisfaction with recognition^e	−0.06	0.21	−.05	.78

Note. *p < .05. **p < .01. ***p < .001; Trauma exposure (PC-PTSD-5): 0 = no, 1 = yes; interpreter education: 0 = no degree in interpreting, 1 = degree in interpreting; supervision: 0 = never had supervision, 1 = have supervision (less than once every 6 months, every 6 months year, every 3 months, once a month, more than once a month) ^aR² = .10, p < .001 ^bΔR² = .02, p = .18 ^cΔR² = .03, p = .04 ^dΔR² = .03, p = .09; ^ein main work setting.

Table 5. Hierarchical regression for work-related and client-related exhaustion.

Work-related exhaustion					Client-related exhaustion
Variable	B	SE B	β	p	Variable	B	SE B	β	p
Step 1^a					Step 1^e
Constant	35.34	4.14		<.001	Constant	29.64	4.35		<.001
Age	−0.25	0.10	−.16*	.01	Age	−0.22	0.11	−.13	0.06
Step 2^b					Step 2^f
Constant	34.39	4.15		<.001	Constant	28.45	4.37		<.001
Age	−0.18	0.10	−.12	0.08	Age	−0.16	0.11	−.10	0.15
Interpreter education	−11.49	4.08	−.22**	0.01	Interpreter education	−7.44	4.55	−.14	0.10
Step 3^c					Step 3^g
Constant	31.24	4.69		<.001	Constant	56.29	6.54		<.001
Age	−0.15	0.10	−.10	0.11	Age	−0.15	0.11	−.10	0.19
Interpreter education	−8.52	3.95	−.16*	0.03	Interpreter education	−2.87	4.04	−.05	0.48
Traumatic content^h	0.13	0.04	.21**	<.01	Satisfaction with pay^h	−0.36	0.40	−.09	0.37
Supervision^h	−5.40	2.89	−.15	0.06	Satisfaction with^h recognition	−1.50	0.46	−.35**	.001
Step 4^d
Constant	55.31	6.33		<.001
Age	−0.17	0.09	−.11	0.07
Interpreter education	−4.26	3.16	−.08	0.18
Traumatic content^h	0.14	0.04	.22**	<.01
Supervision^h	−4.55	2.54	−.12	0.07
Satisfaction with pay^h	−0.81	0.38	−.21*	0.04
Satisfaction with recognition^h	−0.86	0.44	−.21	0.05

Note. *p < .05. **p < .01. ***p < .001; interpreter education: 0 = no degree in interpreting, 1 = degree in interpreting; supervision: 0 = never had supervision, 1 = have supervision (less than once every 6 months, every 6 months, every 3 months, once a month, more than once a month)^aR² = .03, p < .05 ^bΔR² = .04, p = .008 ^cΔR² =.07, p = .002 ^dΔR² = .14, p < .001 ^eR² = .02, p < .05 ^fΔR² = .02, p = .12 ^gΔR² = .17, p < .001 ^hin main work setting.

Franke, G. H., Jaeger, S., Glaesmer, H., Barkmann, C., Petrowski, K., & Braehler, E. (2017). Psychometric analysis of the brief symptom inventory 18 (BSI-18) in a representative German sample. BMC Medical Research Methodology, 17(1), 14. doi:10.1186/s12874-016-0283-3

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Data availability statement

The datasets collected for this study cannot be made publicly available for privacy reasons. We determined not to obtain consent from our participants for the sharing of data when the study was conceived. However, excerpts of the data on a higher aggregation level can be provided upon justified request by the first author.