Compassion Fatigue among Healthcare, Emergency and Community Service Workers: A Systematic Review

Abstract

Compassion fatigue (CF) is stress resulting from exposure to a traumatized individual. CF has been described as the convergence of secondary traumatic stress (STS) and cumulative burnout (BO), a state of physical and mental exhaustion caused by a depleted ability to cope with one’s everyday environment. Professionals regularly exposed to the traumatic experiences of the people they service, such as healthcare, emergency and community service workers, are particularly susceptible to developing CF. This can impact standards of patient care, relationships with colleagues, or lead to more serious mental health conditions such as posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety or depression. A systematic review of the effectiveness of interventions to reduce CF in healthcare, emergency and community service workers was conducted. Thirteen relevant studies were identified, the majority of which were conducted on nurses (n = 10). Three included studies focused on community service workers (social workers, disability sector workers), while no studies targeting emergency service workers were identified. Seven studies reported a significant difference post-intervention in BO (n = 4) or STS (n = 3). This review revealed that evidence of the effectiveness of CF interventions in at-risk health and social care professions is relatively recent. Therefore, we recommend more research to determine how best to protect vulnerable workers at work to prevent not only CF, but also the health and economic consequences related to the ensuing, and more disabling, physical and mental health outcomes.

Attitudes towards suicidal behaviour and associated factors among nursing professionals: A quantitative study

“…Another important finding was that 6% of the respondents strongly agreed with the following statement: “I have been through situations that made me think about committing suicide.” Thoughts and ideation are suicidal behaviours that require special attention during the prevention of suicide risk progression. Moreover, the literature shows that emergency professionals are particularly susceptible to secondary traumatic stress, cumulative burnout and a state of physical and mental exhaustion (Cocker & Joss, ). Thus, it is important to systematically assess mental health and suicide risk among health professionals and promote advancements in the research on and implementation of support interventions.…”

Extent of compassion satisfaction, compassion fatigue and burnout in nursing: A meta-analysis

“…Compassion fatigue is the psycho‐emotional distress that originates because of long‐term self‐sacrifice coupled with prolonged exposure to difficult situations. Compassion fatigue leaves a person with greatly reduced feelings of compassion toward another's suffering (Bush, ; Cocker & Joss, ). Whereas compassion fatigue is rapid in onset, burnout is a slowly progressing disorder usually seen in a burdensome organisational environment (Slatten, David, & Carson, ).…”

Effect of Somatic Experiencing Resiliency-Based Trauma Treatment Training on Quality of Life and Psychological Health as Potential Markers of Resilience in Treating Professionals

“…The costs of VT and STS are significant for the individual, the people they treat and the families of the trauma treating professional (Baird and Jenkins, 2003; Cocker and Joss, 2016). Developing strategies for improved resilience among treatment providers could help mitigate these costs.…”