Measuring Compassion Fatigue

Abstract

This manuscript provides practitioners a gateway into understanding assessment instruments for compassion fatigue. We first describe and then evaluate the leading assessments of compassion fatigue in terms of their reliability and their validity. Although different instruments have different foci, each described instrument measures at least one component of compassion fatigue. The final section discusses three factors in selecting a compassion fatigue measure: the assessment domain or aspect of compassion fatigue to be measured; simultaneous measurement, and; timeframe of what is being measured. Finally, we caution about interpreting scores since the measures were developed as screening devices.

The Role of Religious Leaders in the Restoration of Hope Following Natural Disasters

“…One possible reason for the low response rate might be the result of some clergy experiencing depressed feelings after working with traumatized individuals. Many researchers mentioned the "Compassion Fatigue" that may affect many mental health professionals and volunteers (Adams, Boscarino, & Figley, 2006;Berzoff & Kita, 2010;Bride, Radey, & Figley, 2007;Thieleman & Cacciatore, 2014). The investigators are not sure exactly how many numbers have actually been involved in disaster relief efforts; however, according to FEMA and Citizen Corps Research (2009) in the United States and the Niwano Peace Foundation's (2013) research in Japan, about 60% of Japanese Buddhist and 57% of American Christian clergy might have been involved in natural disaster relief efforts.…”

A Literature Review of Compassion Fatigue in Nursing

“…ProQOL is a revision of CFST and is composed of three discrete subscales: Compassion satisfaction, burnout, and compassion fatigue (Bride et al, 2007). STSS is a tool for assessment of the symptoms of secondary traumatic stress associated with indirect exposure to traumatic events through clinical work with traumatized populations (Beck, 2011).…”

“…Therefore, we need research on compassion fatigue in Korean nurses, for the following reasons: It is now widely recognized that indirect exposure to trauma involves a risk of significant emotional, cognitive, and behavioral changes in nurses, and is viewed as an occupational hazard. Compassion fatigue puts nurses at high risk for poor professional judgement, wrong assessments, unsympathetic nursing care, fear and avoiding nursing care, decreasing the quality of nursing care, and it also results in a decrease in self-esteem, increasing turnover rate, and possible complications (Bride, Radey, & Figley, 2007).…”

Vicarious Trauma in Mental Health Professionals Following the 9/11 Terrorist Attacks

“…Project Liberty, launched after 9/11, was the largest federal mental health response to a disaster in US history [39]. Based on the experience of the clinicians in Project Liberty who provided mental health services for three years, and on research evidence that mental health professionals may reduce their risk of VT by obtaining additional training and education related to traumatology [40], the federal government has included predeployment training on burnout, compassion fatigue, secondary traumatic stress, and vicarious traumatization [41][42][43][44][45][46] for all federal disaster crisis counseling programs. Modern disaster management that has emerged post-9/11 has renewed attention to the safety and wellness of disaster responders, including mental health providers.…”