Compassion Satisfaction,Compassion Fatigue,and Burnout: A Replication Study with Victim Advocates

Abstract

Past research has investigated the rates of compassion satisfaction (CS), compassion fatigue (CF), and burnout within health-care providers. Findings indicate higher levels of CS and lower levels of CF predict lower rates of burnout. The current study extended prior research by replicating past research findings, but with victim advocates. This study enrolled a national sample of 142 victim advocates. A hierarchal linear regression was run to test the research questions. In level 1, years of experience was not significant and only accounted for 1.1% of the variance in burnout. When adding CS, the model became significant (p?<?.001) and CS accounted for an additional 51.8% of the variance. When CF was added to the final model, it was significant (p?<?.001), and accounted for an additional 19.3% of the variance. When comparing the findings to past studies, our findings were similar; however, our study did find that CS and CF accounted for significantly more variance than past studies with health-care providers. Therefore, CS and CF might be greater predictors of burnout in victim advocates than in health-care providers. Future studies should aim to create interventions to increase CS and decrease CF, to reduce burnout.     

The Work Experiences of Social Workers: Factors Impacting Compassion Satisfaction and Workplace Stress

Abstract

In 2015, over 6,000 licensed social workers in 13?US states responded to an online survey regarding perceptions and feelings about their work, as well as numerous personal and practice issues. Specifically, this study examined participants’ levels of compassion satisfaction and workplace stress, and then determined through multivariate analyses what demographic factors, behavioral and physical health problems, practice issues, fields of practice, and workplace environment issues impacted these two variables.

The findings indicate that participants demonstrated high levels of compassion satisfaction, with a wide range of workplace stress levels. Workplace environment issues had the greatest impact on both variables, with social workers’ mental health problems, physical health status, and certain demographic factors such as race also influencing them. Over 82% of respondents expressed agreement that they were glad that they chose social work as a profession. The results appear to demonstrate that despite being a potentially stressful occupation, licensed social workers tend to experience significant emotional satisfaction from their work. On the other hand, the results also highlight the need for further research to determine how to enhance support for social workers in the workplace in order to not only reduce workplace stress, but also to increase compassion satisfaction.     

Compassion Satisfaction Among Social Work Practitioners: The Role of Work–Life Balance

Abstract

Previous research has established that social work practitioners are especially vulnerable to work-related psychological distress and burnout due to the high-stress nature of the profession, yet less research has focused on examining factors are associated with social worker retention. Emerging research on compassion satisfaction suggests that this factor could mitigate professional burnout, yet there is a gap in research focusing explicitly on examining compassion satisfaction among social workers. To address this gap in knowledge, this quantitative study collected survey data on practicing social workers who were alumni from a large southeastern university (n?=?120) to examine individual and organizational factors associated with compassion satisfaction. Multiple regression analyses revealed that higher levels of emotional intelligence, perceived work autonomy, and perceived work–life balance were associated with an increase in compassion satisfaction among experienced, licensed social work practitioners. Findings have implications for how social work employers can promote compassion satisfaction through cultivating emotional intelligence among practitioners, allowing social workers autonomy in decision making, and providing supportive work environments. Recommended directions for future research include longitudinal studies with large sample sizes that expound research on compassion satisfaction by examining the role of additional factors, such as client population, job role characteristics, and supervisor support.     

Professional Identity,Job Satisfaction,and Retention of Licensed Social Workers in Korea

This paper reports the results from a survey of 735 social workers in South Korea on their professional identity as a social worker, job satisfaction, and intention to leave the profession. The overall result shows that there was a high level of job satisfaction. Social workers' intention to leave the profession was significantly related to their integrated feelings of professional identity. This relationship was partially mediated by job satisfaction. Social workers' sense of professional identity can be tapped to help social workers feel adequate to carry out their professional responsibility. Boundaries of their practice should be well defined.     

The Effects of Emotional Support on Burnout,Work Stress and Mental Health Among Norwegian and American Social Workers

This article examines the effects of emotional support on work stress and burnout among human service workers in the U.S.A. and Norway. Since work stress has been identified as an important predictor of job dissatisfaction and burnout, it is the purpose of this study to examine the ability of emotional support to moderate or "buffer" the impact of job stress. Previous research on this subject has shown some support for the buffering hypotheses, but the effect has not been adequately explored within the mental health professions, nor has the concept been extensively assessed by comparative studies of such professionals in two different countries. The results of this study, based upon moderated regression analyses, indicate that emotional support is inversely correlated with burnout and stress. However, buffering effects were not observed to any significant degree in either national sample.     

The Role of Mastery and Social Support in the Association Between Life Stressors and Psychological Distress in Older Canadians

Gerontological social workers and other health professionals are often dealing with older adults in psychological distress. Greater clarity on the relationship between stress and psychological distress will enhance the efficacy of outreach and treatment initiatives for older adults. This study explored the underlying causal structure of the relationships of common life stressors and psychosocial resources for Canadians 65 years and older (542 men and 835 women). Using structural equation modeling of data collected in the National Population Health Survey in 2004–2005 and 2002–2003, the roles played by socioeconomic conditions, physical health, chronic stress, sense of mastery, and perceived social support in the stress–psychological distress relationship were estimated and compared. Findings revealed that chronic stress was the strongest determinant of the level of psychological distress for both genders; however its effect was higher for men compared to women. Poor physical health played a more important role in determining women's psychological distress compared to men. Higher levels of mastery and perceived social support were associated with lower levels of psychological distress for both men and women. These associations were somewhat stronger for men compared with women. Socio-economic conditions played a minor role in the stress–mental health relationship for both genders.     

Social Support,Caregiver Burden,and Life Satisfaction in a Sample of Rural African American and White Caregivers of Older Persons With Dementia

This article reports the findings of a study of African American and White dementia caregivers (n = 141) living in rural areas of Alabama that examined the relations between the participants' receipt of informal social support, and their levels of caregiver burden and life satisfaction. The sample, as a whole, reported high levels of social support with no reported differences in social support by race. Female caregivers reported higher mean scores on 3 of the 4 dimensions of social support than their male counterparts. Two of the 4 dimensions of social support accounted for 32% of the variance of the caregivers' reported level of life satisfaction.     

The Influence of Professional Identity and the Private Practice Environment: Attitudes of Clinical Social Workers Toward Addressing the Social Support Needs of Clients

This study uses focus groups and follow-up interviews to explore how clinical social workers in private practice settings address the social support needs of their clients. Findings indicate that the social workers understand the importance of addressing these needs; however, because of concerns about status, identity and reimbursement, they tend to avoid case-management-like tasks despite their intrinsic understanding of the social support value of these services. Recommendations for practice follow the discussion of these findings.     

社会网络对生活满意度的影响研究——基于京、沪、粤三地的分析

本研究以2008年和2009年在北京市、上海市和广东省进行的“中国家庭追踪调查”的数据为基础,运用多层线性模型和协方差模型探讨了社会网络对生活满意度的影响程度。研究表明,拜年网中朋友的比例、邻里互动频率和非正式社会参与都对生活满意度有积极影响,生活满意度与拜年网规模之间则呈现出“∩”型的相关关系。协方差分析结果表明,社会网络规模的扩大、朋友比例的上升和非正式社会参与频率的增加都有助于提高个人的生活满意度,但邻里互动频率的变化对个人生活满意度的提升作用还有待进一步的研究。     

实用专业主义:广州市家庭综合服务中心社会工作者“专业能力”的界定及其逻辑

本研究的目的是找出中国社会工作者专业能力体系及其背后的判定逻辑。本研究运用“模糊德尔菲法”的设计,让广东省高校教育界和实务界的专家参考英格兰、美国和中国香港地区的专业能力,选择其中他们认为对广州市家庭综合服务中心社会工作者重要的指标。结果显示,共有价值伦理、理论知识和实务技巧等3个层面,合计24项能力指标被纳入本地的能力体系。经过分析这些专家判定逻辑,本研究还发现该能力体系存在“实用专业主义”的倾向,包括“犬儒思想”“去政治化”和“技术化”等特征。     

工作-家庭冲突、性别角色与工作满意度——基于第三期中国妇女社会地位调查的实证研究

本文使用2010年第三期中国妇女社会地位调查数据,研究了工作-家庭冲突对工作满意度的影响及其性别差异,发现来自工作和家庭两方面的角色压力是引发工作-家庭冲突的主要原因,而且无论是因工作影响家庭,还是因为家庭耽误工作,员工都会对工作表达不满。与男性员工相比,工作压力和家庭压力会使女性员工陷入更为严重的工作-家庭冲突,而且女性员工也更可能因为工作影响家庭而降低对工作的满意度。这些发现不仅为工作-家庭冲突及其相关后果的理论研究提供了丰富的经验证据,还为各级管理人员激励员工士气和提高组织绩效提供了很多实践上的启示。     

The Impact of Religiousness,Spirituality, and Social Support on Psychological Well-Being Among Older Adults in Rural Areas

Summary

This paper presents the results of a study on the impact of spirituality, religiousness, and social support on the psychological well-being among rural elderly. With a rural community sample of 215 older adults, hierarchical regression analyses found significant associations between dimensions of spirituality/religiousness, social support, and psychological well-being, with spirituality/religiousness inversely related to depression and social support, positively related to life satisfaction. Findings of this study suggest that practitioners need to develop programs or services that are congruent with religious/spiritual beliefs and practices in order to better enhance the psychosocial well-being and improve the quality of life among older persons in rural areas.