Bret A. Moore

Since its original publication in 1996, the 21-item Posttraumatic Growth Inventory (PTGI) has been widely used to assess the experience of personal growth following trauma. In 2017, the expanded 25-item version (PTGI-X) was introduced to better capture spiritual and existential change. In this study, we aimed to develop a short form version of the PTGI-X (PTGI-X-SF) that retains all five domains of posttraumatic growth (PTG) in a brief, clinically useful format. An international sample of 2,093 adults who had completed the PTGI-X in a prior study was analyzed. A confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to examine the factor structure of the proposed short form. The resulting PTGI-X-SF includes 10 items-two from each of the five original PTGI subscales. The 10 SF items subjected to confirmatory factor analysis demonstrated acceptable model fit, supporting the validity of the PTGI-X-SF as a brief measure of PTG, which we believe preserves the depth and breadth of the original scale. The PTGI-X-SF offers a concise, psychometrically grounded tool for assessing PTG across all original domains. It can be used in diverse settings and populations, complementing standard trauma assessments to provide a fuller picture of individuals' responses to adversity. We believe the instrument is a validated, efficient, and globally applicable short-form measure of PTG suitable for use in both research and clinical settings. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).

Vicarious Posttraumatic Growth (VPTG) is a critical yet underexplored phenomenon among trauma-focused helping professionals. While secondary trauma (ST), compassion fatigue, and burnout are widely recognized negative aspects of working with trauma survivors, less is known about the potential benefits of this work and its contributions to well-being. This qualitative study explored peer-support specialists’ perceptions of growth arising from indirect exposure to trauma and examined how these experiences relate to well-being. Using interpretative phenomenological analysis, researchers conducted semi-structured interviews with 13 participants, independently coded transcripts, and developed themes through consensus. Findings suggest VPTG may follow a similar path to Posttraumatic Growth (PTG), with participants reporting challenges to core beliefs, emotional distress, and transformative cognitive-emotional shifts that facilitated growth across domains that appear to mirror the five PTG domains. Outcomes of working with trauma survivors extended beyond the PTG domains to include compassion satisfaction, hope, expanded coping skills, and improved mental health. Taken together, these findings illustrate the participants’ subjective experiences of both challenge and transformation through their work with trauma survivors, offering preliminary insight into how indirect trauma exposure may contribute to VPTG and well-being.

Posttraumatic growth (PTG) offers an alternative understanding of trauma response, contrasting with traditional perspectives focused solely on symptom development and resilience. In the PTG model, individuals and groups report positive changes in life philosophy, self-understanding, and interpersonal relationships because of successfully navigating the struggles involved with experiencing adversity. This narrative review includes the evolution of PTG theory, highlighting the disruption of core beliefs, the role of rumination, and the reconstruction of a life narrative as central mechanisms of the PTG process. The authors describe the five empirically validated domains of PTG and outline the naturally occurring PTG process. Methods are discussed for facilitating PTG through “expert companions,” who may be peers or professionals providing nonjudgmental, supportive relationships that encourage emotional regulation, constructive disclosure, and meaning making. The article explores how these methods can be applied to individuals, communities, and organizations, all of which may experience comparable domains of growth following collective adversity. The article concludes by highlighting how a focus on posttraumatic growth shifts perspectives from viewing trauma survivors as broken to recognizing their potential for transformation and underscores the role of both professional and community support in fostering PTG and healthier organizational climates.

Vicarious Posttraumatic Growth (VPTG) is a critical yet underexplored phenomenon among trauma-focused helping professionals. While secondary trauma (ST), compassion fatigue, and burnout are widely recognized negative aspects of working with trauma survivors, less is known about the potential benefits of this work and its contributions to well-being. This qualitative study examined whether VPTG parallels Posttraumatic Growth (PTG) across its five domains and explored the lived experiences of ST and VPTG among peer-support specialists. Using interpretative phenomenological analysis, re-searchers conducted semi-structured interviews with 13 participants, independently coded transcripts, and developed themes through consensus. Findings indicate that VPTG mirrors PTG, with participants reporting challenges to core beliefs, emotional distress, and transformative cognitive-emotional shifts that facilitated growth across the five PTG domains. Participants also described moving from an initial acclimation phase, characterized by heightened distress, into a thriving phase of work with trauma survivors, marked by meaning-making and enhanced well-being. Outcomes extended beyond the five PTG domains to include compassion satisfaction, hope, expanded coping skills, and improved mental health. These findings underscore the potential of work with trauma survivors to contribute to both growth and well-being, with important implications for supporting helping professionals.

War zone exposure is associated with enduring negative mental health effects and poorer responses to treatment, in part because this type of trauma can entail crises of conscience or moral injury. Although a great deal of attention has been paid to posttraumatic stress disorder and fear-based physiological aspects of trauma and suffering, comparatively less attention has been given to the morally injurious dimension of trauma. Robust themes of moral injury were identified in interviews with 26 post-9/11 military veterans. Thematic analysis identified 12 themes that were subsumed under four categories reflecting changes, shifts, or ruptures in worldview, meaning making, identity, and relationships. Moral injury is a unique and challenging clinical construct with impacts on the individual as well as at every level of the social ecological system. Recommendations are offered for addressing moral injury in a military population; implications for community public health are noted. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).