Abstract. This study was conducted to determine if there was a mediating effect of self-efficacy between secondary traumatic stress and emotional self-regulation among forensic examiners. It was conducted at the Regional Forensic Unit- National Capital Region and National Headquarters of PNP Forensic Group. Data were collected using simple random sampling from 173 designated forensic examiners with indirect trauma experiences. Mediation analysis was used to evaluate the data, using regression analysis and the Sobel Test. It was revealed that forensic examiners had little/no secondary traumatic stress, a high level of emotional self-regulation, and a high level of self-efficacy. It was also revealed that self-efficacy (β=-0.334, p<.001) was negatively related to emotional self-regulation with 11% of the variance, secondary traumatic stress (β=0.460, p<.001) was positively related to emotional self-regulation with 21% of the variance, and secondary traumatic stress (β=-0.195, p=.010) was negatively related to self-efficacy with 3.8% of the variance. The self-efficacy partially mediates the relationship between secondary traumatic stress and emotional self-regulation by 10.7%, which indicates that while self-efficacy plays a significant impact, there is still a direct influence of secondary traumatic stress on emotional self-regulation. As an output of the study, the Forensic Mental Health: Psychoeducation and Trauma-Focused Intervention Program was proposed for forensic examiners to serve as a guide to develop and improve their self-efficacy and emotional self-regulation strategy in coping with the impact of secondary traumatic stress.
Keywords: Self-efficacy; Secondary traumatic stress; Emotional self-regulation; Mediation; Forensics