Professional quality of life of adult protective service workers

Adult Protective Services (APS) workers are exposed to substantial occupational hazards and job stress, but these stressors are underdocumented. Therefore, we sought to describe APS workers’ work environments and responses to occupational hazards and stressors, including compassion fatigue, burnout, and secondary traumatic stress. Survey data were gathered with closed-ended questionnaires administered to APS workers in an urban setting. Virtually all workers (97%) reported exposure to one or more environmental hazards in their work, and 80% reported hazard exposure in the past month. Workers also reported mixed responses to their work environment and to experiences with supervision. A sizable minority (22.7%) was at high risk for burnout, 24.6% were at risk for secondary traumatic stress, and 19.9% reported low compassion satisfaction. The results document multiple stressors in APS work. The APS partner is committed to ongoing efforts to better support its staff, and these findings can inform future efforts to enhance supervisor support and worker self-care, to minimize burnout and secondary traumatic stress.     

Association of Personal Distress With Burnout,Compassion Fatigue,and Compassion Satisfaction Among Clinical Social Workers

ABSTRACT

Studies of empathy and empathy-related responding show that while some people respond to observing the suffering of another with a prosocial concern and urge to help the suffering person, others have an aversive, avoidant response that is primarily self-focused and aimed toward relieving their own distress rather than helping the other person. This self-focused response, labeled personal distress, is associated with various social and psychological problems. This article discusses the concept of personal distress and describes a study of licensed clinical social workers (n = 171) that examines the relationship of personal distress and three other aspects of the empathy construct with compassion fatigue, burnout, and compassion satisfaction. Results of ordinary least squares multiple regression analyses indicate that the model of empathy components and control variables explain 20% to 23% of the variance in the dependent variables. Personal distress is the only component of the empathy construct with significant associations with the dependent variables. Higher personal distress is associated with higher compassion fatigue and burnout and lower compassion satisfaction among clinical social workers. Implications for future research and for social work education are discussed.     

A Cognitive Approach to Direct Practice with the Aging

The recent prominence of cognitive approaches in psychotherapy and more recently in social casework holds considerable promise for direct practice with olderpersons on both an individual and group basis. Several central concepts in cognitive theory are delineated and found to have particular advantages for the aging. First, they deal with conscious concerns and avoid the dangers of affective or regressive approaches in breaking down defenses. Second, they are heavily concerned with questions of meaning and self-concept, issues that are central to the last stage of life, as delineated by Erikson, and the task of achieving ego integrity over despair. Two case illustrations of the application of a cognitive approach in a group context are given.     

论“恻隐”与“同情”——儒学与情感现象学比较研究

儒学的“恻隐”不是舍勒的“同情”:恻隐并不基于认知或“再感知”;恻隐不是“再体验”,即不是“参与”到对象的体验中;恻隐也不是“价值盲”,而是价值的源泉。恻隐即爱或爱的原初显现,而非与爱对立的“低级”情绪。恻隐是一切形而上学与形而下学的本源。     

论清代的“存留养亲”制度

在规定有存留养亲制度的诸朝法律中,清代的存留养亲制度可以说是形式多样、较为完备并得以有效运用的一项法律制度.清代存留养亲的类型、成立的条件及其特点,特别是它所体现出的人性关怀对我们今天的司法实践仍然有着借鉴意义.     

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.     

Ethical Comportment in Organizations: A Synthesis of The Feminist Ethic of Care and the Buddhist Ethic of Compassion

This article describes a mode of ethical behavior in organizations called ethical comportment that is the enactment of the principles of elements common to the feminist ethic of care and the Buddhist ethic of compassion. The paper outlines the main tenets of care and The Eightfold Path of Buddhism, a mode of practicing compassion, demonstrating the similarities in values and practices that embody what the author considers to be ethical comportment in organizations. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

用爱追寻流浪的人性

通过分析女主人公摩尔在残酷的社会现实中人性的流浪与回归,来更好地理解笛福思想的先进性;指出笛福是当时第一个以生活在社会最底层的贫困妇女为题材,揭露当时社会的落后与黑暗,为争取妇女生存的权力呐喊的作家,他的作品体现了对社会的深刻反思、对人性的爱和悲悯。     

王跃文官场小说的六个关键词

王跃文的官场小说对微妙、尴尬且不乏荒诞的当代中国官场进行了冷峻的观照和审视,并通过官员日常生活的展示和命运际遇的演绎,对中国国民性予以深入的解剖和挖掘;作品以爱为底色,对于当代官场反复上演的人性悲剧心怀悲悯,其内涵温暖而深情。     

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.