Burnout and Job Satisfaction Among Counselor Educators

A phenomenological study of compassion satisfaction among social work educators in higher education

Background

Compassion satisfaction (CS) is a phenomenon that has been studied among the helping professions, such as nursing and social work and has been linked to stress, burnout, compassion fatigue, and vicarious trauma. Social work educators may also experience these same issues, yet more research is needed on how they might counter the negative impacts associated with this type of work by utilizing their experiences of CS.

Objectives

A phenomenological study was carried out to explore and describe how social work educators in higher education experiences CS.

Methods

Eleven in-depth interviews with social work educators were conducted, and constructivist grounded theory techniques were utilized to analyze the data.

Results

Social work educators experienced CS within the education and personal realms, which encompassed four different elements: achievement, support, balance, and empathy.

Discussion

The four elements of CS were utilized by social work educators in this study as coping strategies to enhance their experience of CS, thus encountering threats to CS, such as institutional barriers, interaction with administrators and colleagues, and work overload.

Conclusion

Interventions fostering compassion satisfaction and reducing compassion fatigue, burnout, and stress should be considered, including interventions that increase the sense of accomplishment, promote holistic self-care, encourage administrative and collegial support, and improve work-life balance.

Establishing Music Therapy as an Alternative to Reducing Compassion Fatigue among Health Workers

Compassion fatigue is a condition that occurs in individuals who are continuously involved in providing care or emotional support to others who are experiencing suffering or difficulties. This condition can affect the physical, emotional, and psychological well-being of health professionals. The results of a literature review show that music therapy can effectively reduce stress levels, emotional exhaustion, and burnout symptoms associated with compassion fatigue. This article proposes the use of music therapy as an effective alternative to reduce compassion fatigue.

Pandemic impact on higher education faculty self‐care, burnout, and compassion satisfaction

This correlational study examined the relationship between self‐care, burnout, compassion satisfaction, and secondary traumatic stress among higher education faculty members during the COVID‐19 pandemic. The results inform higher education faculty members about the effects of self‐care and suggest strategies to reduce burnout, compassion satisfaction and secondary traumatic stress.

Risk and Protective Factors of Well-Being among Healthcare Staff. A Thematic Analysis

The purpose of this study was to identify physical and psychosocial working conditions to improve well-being at work among healthcare staff. This is a potent area of inquiry given the relationship between healthcare staff well-being and service quality and other key organizational characteristics. However, while numerous studies in this area have used a quantitative methodology, very few have applied qualitative methodologies gathering subjective descriptions of the sources of well-being, providing in so doing significant data to explore in depth the factors that influence well-being in healthcare systems. We gathered qualitative data analyzing open-ended questions about risk and protective factors of well-being at work. The sample was made of 795 professionals answering an online questionnaire. Answers were coded and analyzed using the thematic analysis with an inductive approach (data-driven). We identified four themes strongly affecting professional well-being in health-care staff: Interactions, Working Conditions, Emotional Responses to Work, and Competence and Professional Growth. Our findings suggest possible strategies and actions that may be effective in helping to calibrate case-specific support and monitoring interventions to improve health and well-being of healthcare staff. We also discuss the implications of the study and suggest possible avenues for future empirical research.

Exploring resilience and mindfulness as preventative factors for psychological distress burnout and secondary traumatic stress among human service professionals

BACKGROUND

Human service professionals are concerned with the intervention and empowerment of vulnerable social populations. The human service industry is laden with employment-related stressors and emotionally demanding interactions, which can lead to deleterious effects, such as burnout and secondary traumatic stress. Little attention has been given to developing knowledge of what might enable human service workers to persist and thrive. Cultivating and sustaining resilience can buffer the impact of occupational stressors on human service professionals. One of the psychological factors associated with cultivating resilience is mindfulness.

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this current research is to improve our understanding of the relationship between resilience, mindfulness, burnout, secondary traumatic stress, and psychological distress among human service professionals.

METHODS

The current study surveyed 133 human service professionals working in the fields of psychology, social work, counseling, youth and foster care work to explore the predictive relationship between resilience, mindfulness, and psychological distress.

RESULTS

The results showed that higher levels of resilience were a significant predictor of lower levels of psychological distress, burnout and secondary traumatic stress. In addition, higher levels of mindfulness were a significant predictor of lower levels of psychological distress and burnout.

CONCLUSIONS

The findings suggest that cultivating resilience and mindfulness in human service professionals may assist in preventing psychological distress burnout and secondary traumatic stress. Limitations of this study are discussed together with implications for future research.