Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Protective Role Of Compassion Satisfaction For Therapists Who Work With Sexual Violence Survivors: An Application Of The Broaden-And-Build Theory Of Positive Emotions, Christina Samios, Lisa Abel, Amber Rodzik

Christina Samios

Therapists who work with trauma survivors, such as survivors of sexual violence, can experience compassion satisfaction while experiencing negative effects of trauma work, such as secondary traumatic stress. We examined whether the negative effects of secondary traumatic stress on therapist adjustment would be buffered by compassion satisfaction and whether the broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions could be applied to examine the factors (positive emotions and positive reframing) that relate to compassion satisfaction. Sixty-one therapists who work with sexual violence survivors completed measures of secondary traumatic stress, compassion satisfaction, adjustment, positive emotions and positive reframing. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses found that …