When You Care Enough to Do Your Very Best: Genetic Counselor Experiences of Compassion Fatigue

Abstract

Compassion fatigue is a phenomenon that occurs when a caregiver feels overwhelmed by repeated empathic engagement with distressed clients (Figley, 2002). Research demonstrates its existence among nurses, physicians, and mental health professionals, but to date no published study has specifically investigated the nature and prevalence of compassion fatigue among genetic counselors. The present study was an initial attempt to identify and describe the phenomena in genetic counseling by conducting focus group interviews with 12 genetic counselors. Data analysis yielded several themes: a) compassion fatigue occurs and may compromise professional and personal functioning; b) prevalent triggers include delivering bad news and difficult patient issues (e.g., terminal illness, anger, psychopathology); c) effective coping strategies include consulting with colleagues, setting boundaries, and humor; and d) risk factors include personality characteristics and traumatic memories. Training, practice, and research recommendations are provided.

Distress and burnout among genetic service providers

“…Some types of distress, including concerns about informational bias, personal values conflicts and burden of professional responsibility, may be especially pertinent to genetic counseling, and appear to be experienced more acutely by genetic counselors 53. Although the literature suggests that genetic counselors experience compassion stress and fatigue, 42, 47 our results indicate that compassion stress also weighs on clinical geneticists and nurses. Two of our subscales, personal values conflicts and inauthenticity, overlap with moral distress as defined in the field of nursing 15-19.…”

“…Some limited research has documented that ethical and professional challenges frequently arise amongst genetic counselors, 45 leading to compassion fatigue and depersonalization 42,46,47. Although some attention has been paid to these issues in genetic counselors, to date, there has been only limited research on professional satisfaction/dissatisfaction experienced by genetic service providers in general, the nature and frequency of distress they experience in their work with patients, the extent of burnout, or the degree to which distress might be a risk factor for professional dissatisfaction and burnout.…”

Compassion Fatigue: An Application of the Concept to Informal Caregivers of Family Members with Dementia

“…In the compassion fatigue process, detachment is the ability of the provider to distance themselves from the suffering [2]. The strong emotional attachment between parent and child may prohibit the family caregiver from detaching and therefore removes an essential coping mechanism utilized by formal care providers [2, 30]. Thus, emotional attachment is an important aspect for future studies about informal caregivers and compassion fatigue.…”

An exploration of the experience of compassion fatigue in clinical oncology nurses

“…Researchers conclude that CF occurs in a variety of health care professions including, but not limited to social work, clinical research, occupational and physical therapy, genetic counselling and medicine (Adams, Figley, & Bascarino, 2008;Badger, Royse, & Craig, 2008;Pickett, Brennan, & Greenberg, et al, 1994;Stebnicki, 2002;Costa, 2005;Benoit, McCarthy Veach, & LeRoy, 2007;Pfifferling, & Gilley, 1999). Studies show that nurses are at particular risk for CF because compassion and empathy are core values nurses employ in order to do their work (Figley, 1995).…”