Helping till it hurts? A multimethod study of compassion fatigue, burnout, and self-care in clinicians working with trauma survivors
Abstract
There is burgeoning interest in secondary traumatic
stress, compassion fatigue, and self-care in the helping
professions. This multimethod study focused on therapists’
stress and coping in their work with trauma survivors,
identifying factors related to resilience and
burnout. Semistructured interviews were conducted
with 20 clinicians subscribing to a systems perspective,
and 104 clinicians were administered a questionnaire
inquiring about their caseloads, trauma history, coping
styles, emotional self-awareness, work stress, compassion
satisfaction, compassion fatigue, and burnout.
Interview data demonstrated that therapists detect job
stress through bodily symptoms, mood changes, sleep
disturbances, becoming easily distracted, and increased
difficulty concentrating. Self-care strategies included
processing with peers/supervisor, spirituality, exercise,
and spending time with family. In the quantitative study,
social support, work hours, and internal locus of control
accounted for 41% of the variance in compassion satisfaction.
Multiple regression procedures accounted for
54% of the variance in compassion fatigue and 74% of
the variance in burnout. Implications for clinical training
and organizational policy are discussed.
Description
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Article
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Keywords
compassion fatigue, secondary traumatic stress, self-care, organizational policy
Citation
Killian, K. D. (2008). Helping till it hurts? A multimethod study of compassion fatigue, burnout, and self-care in clinicians working with trauma survivors. Traumatology, 14(2), 32.