The Influence of Self-Care on the Relationship Between Providers Experience and Trauma-Informed Care Delivery in Behavioral Health

Trauma-informed care (TIC) is increasingly recognized as a foundational framework in behavioral health settings. However, little is known about how individual provider characteristics, specifically self-care and years of experience, contribute to perceived TIC readiness. This study investigated whether self-care and professional experience predicted providers’ perceived knowledge of, and comfort with, TIC principles and practices. Archival survey data were analyzed from 72 providers across seven organizations. Primary variables included self-reported perceived knowledge, comfort level of working with trauma-exposed clients, self-care practices, and years of experience. Analyses included bivariate correlations, mediation models and hierarchical regressions, with self-care examined as both a direct predictor and a mediator. Self-care significantly predicted perceived TIC knowledge (β = .12, p = .009), accounting for unique variance in the regression model after controlling for experience, and improved the overall regression model fit (ΔR² = .132, F (2, 49) = 3.72, p = .031). However, self-care did not significantly predict comfort working with trauma survivors, and years of experience was not a significant predictor for either perceived knowledge or comfort level. Mediation models were not supported as well. These findings highlight self-care as a relevant factor in trauma-informed knowledge among providers, but not in provider comfort. Years of experience alone did not contribute meaningfully to either outcome variables, emphasizing the importance of structured training and wellness supports at all career stages. Future research should explore additional variables contributing to provider comfort in TIC implementation.