Building resilience in New Zealand psychologists: A survey on resilience in New Zealand psychologists

McCormick, Katie; Howard, F. William; Seymour, Fred; Barker‐Collo, Suzanne

doi:10.1037/e556572013-030

Cited by 2 publications

(7 citation statements)

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“…However, relatively low rates of resilience and increases in stress and demands during the COVID-19 pandemic are reported. Notably, both professional quality of life and resilience are significantly worse in the current sample than in a prepandemic sample of NZ psychologists (McCormick, 2014).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 78%

“…Psychologists in NZ reported mean resilience scores comparable with the lowest quartile of respondents in U.S. population studies (Campbell-Sills et al, 2009) and significantly worse professional quality of life and resilience than a previous and directly comparable sample (McCormick, 2014). It is possible that circumstances have substantially worsened in the 7 years between these studies, following the first year of the pandemic, increased demand, and strain on the system.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 80%

“…As above, psychologists may also be increasingly willing to disclose difficulties. It is also possible that self-selection plays a role—the McCormick study (2014) was advertised to the same professional organizations, as a study of the positive effects of psychologists’ work and resilience; while the present study was advertised as investigating stress, burnout, and resilience. Psychologists interested in and identifying with one of these topics may have been more likely to participate.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…NZ psychologists reported low rates of resilience in the present study, strongly associated with increased psychological distress and CF. Previous research in this area suggests a range of resilience-enhancing ideas including increasing networks, increasing openness about personal difficulties among psychologists, enhancing boundaries, and engaging in personal therapy (McCormick, 2014). Training and personal use of particular therapies such as acceptance and commitment therapy may reduce trainee (Stafford-Brown & Pakenham, 2012) and practising psychologists’ stress (Eriksson et al, 2018).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Psychologists' caseloads often include working with traumatized individuals, discussing traumatic events in detail, and exposure to traumatic outcomes, such as client suffering, threatening behavior, or suicide, making this a vital consideration of the present study. Little is known of the specific experience of NZ psychologists, with one past study found, focused on resilience, and reporting relatively low rates of compassion fatigue (McCormick, 2014). Larsen and Stamm (2008) emphasized that work context, client characteristics, therapist resources, training, and personal history can affect therapists' professional quality of life and continuity in the role.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Identifying risk factors for compassion fatigue in psychologists in Aotearoa, New Zealand, during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Kercher,

Gossage

2024

Professional Psychology: Research and Practice

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Psychologists work extensively with people experiencing personal and mental health difficulties, providing psychological support and therapeutic interventions. While past research has established that psychologists are at risk of secondary traumatic stress and burnout (together comprising compassion fatigue), little is known about the professional and personal circumstances that mitigate their risk. The present study surveyed mental health symptoms and professional quality of life among 149 registered psychologists in Aotearoa, New Zealand (4.1% of the workforce). A broad range of experiences was considered, including psychologists' symptoms of stress, anxiety, depression, burnout, secondary traumatic stress, compassion satisfaction, and resilience, along with contextual factors including caseload, professional support, and personal circumstances, in the second year of the pandemic. Least absolute shrinkage and selection operator regression were used to identify variables that predicted compassion fatigue and compassion satisfaction. Although psychologists find their work rewarding and satisfying, our results indicate a high rate of psychological distress and risk of compassion fatigue in our cohort of psychologists, partly associated with increased stress from COVID-19. This study identifies risk factors including COVID-19-related stress, working with clients at risk, and symptoms of stress and anxiety, accounting for 59% of the variance in compassion fatigue. Additional informal supervision support, resilience, and increased employer support were predictive of increased compassion satisfaction. It is imperative to focus on professional support, personal well-being, and manageable caseloads, to ensure a future sustainable psychology workforce. Public Significance StatementPsychologists in New Zealand report high average levels of compassion fatigue (burnout and secondary traumatic stress), stress and depressive symptoms, and low resilience, but good compassion satisfaction. Compassion fatigue is associated with stress, anxiety, COVID-19-related stress, and working with clients at risk; while compassion satisfaction is linked with additional supervision, employer support, and resilience. Psychologists' own well-being and professional quality of life should be of utmost concern for our profession, to ensure quality and sustainability of the mental health workforce.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 78%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 80%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Identifying risk factors for compassion fatigue in psychologists in Aotearoa, New Zealand, during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Kercher,

Gossage

2024

Professional Psychology: Research and Practice

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The COVID-19 pandemic effect on psychologists’ professional quality of life and mental health

Kercher,

Rahman,

Pedersen

2023

Preprint

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Background: Psychologists are at known risk of work-related stress, secondary trauma, and burnout. The COVID-19 pandemic increased stress and anxiety for communities worldwide and corresponded with an increased demand for mental health services. Our study investigated the impact of COVID-19 on psychologists’ professional quality of life, psychological symptoms and work-related stress in Aotearoa, New Zealand. Method: Ninety-nine registered psychologists were recruited via NZ professional psychology organisations, representing 3% of the total workforce. Survey data collected included symptoms of compassion fatigue and satisfaction, psychological symptoms, COVID-19-related stress and resilience, and professional and personal circumstances during the third year of the pandemic, 2022. Results: Seventy per cent reported that their work stress had increased, and 60% that their caseload intensity had increased during COVID-19. Psychologists reported receiving little to no additional personal or professional support, while 55% reported increased personal responsibilities during the pandemic (for example, closed childcare and schools during lockdowns). High rates of compassion fatigue (burnout and secondary traumatic stress) were reported, and low resilience. We observed that psychological distress was higher than the community averages before the pandemic and comparable with frontline healthcare professionals. Compassion fatigue was associated with COVID-related stress, psychological distress, years in practice and more frequent supervision, but not with working with at-risk clients, levels of personal support or having children at home. Despite these difficulties, high Compassion Satisfaction scores were also reported, with over 90% indicating they had no intention of leaving the profession in the foreseeable future. Conclusions: Compassion Fatigue rates appear to have worsened during the COVID-19 pandemic, as have psychological distress symptoms among psychologists. Our findings suggest that mental health workforces are not immune to crisis-related changes. We hope that increased awareness and understanding of psychological difficulties experienced during COVID-19 can be used to tackle future crises better, and better support mental health professionals.

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Building resilience in New Zealand psychologists: A survey on resilience in New Zealand psychologists

Cited by 2 publications

References 0 publications

Identifying risk factors for compassion fatigue in psychologists in Aotearoa, New Zealand, during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Identifying risk factors for compassion fatigue in psychologists in Aotearoa, New Zealand, during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic effect on psychologists’ professional quality of life and mental health

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