Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

An Exploration Of The Relationships Between Self Compassion And Burnout : Secondary Traumatic Stress And Compassion Satisfaction Among Providers Who Work With Children And Families Who Have Experienced Trauma, Binlin Xia

Theses, Dissertations, and Projects

The field of social work education has witnessed a soaring need to help providers cope with the negative emotional impact of working with clients who have experienced trauma. This study explored the association between self compassion and the experience of burn out (BO), secondary traumatic stress (STS) and compassion satisfaction (CS) among mental health providers who specifically work with children and youth who have experienced trauma. This quantitative study employed a survey in addition to two open-ended questions in a sample of 60 participants using a convenience sampling process.

The findings suggest that self compassion serves as a strongly correlated …

Compassion Fatigue And Compassion Satisfaction : Experiences Of Helping Professionals In The Homeless Workforce : A Project Based Upon An Investigation At Boston Healthcare For The Homeless, Boston, Massachusetts, Joshua Beebe

Theses, Dissertations, and Projects

Homeless workforce staff perform their duties with clients for whom themes of crisis, suffering and distress are common. Such working conditions are characteristic of settings in which workers are vulnerable to workplace stress and burnout. Compassion for those we help can affect us in positive and negative ways. Using a cross-sectional design, 44 homeless workforce staff in one large agency completed a 87-item online questionnaire designed to examine burnout and secondary trauma and whether the personal characteristics of empathy and reactivity would be associated with improved workplace functioning (less burnout and greater job satisfaction). Contrary to our expectations, this sample …

How To Best Support Clinical Social Workers In Their Practive With Children Who Have Experienced Trauma, Anna N. Query

Theses, Dissertations, and Projects

This research set out to explore how clinical social workers working with children who have experienced trauma are supported in their practice, both at an individual and organizational level. Given the concepts of vicarious trauma, compassion fatigue, secondary trauma and burnout as a natural part of working with trauma, it is essential to make sure that clinical social workers are properly supported in their work. With the theoretical understanding of person-in-environment, individuals must be understood in their environment, as both individual and environment constantly influence one another. For this qualitative study, twelve clinical social workers across the United States, in …

Pet Ownership And Perceived Stress In Social Work Students And Clinicians, Karen E. Acheson

Theses, Dissertations, and Projects

This study was undertaken to determine if social work clinicians and students who owned pets had lower rates of perceived stress than those who did not own pets. Secondly, did an owner's level of attachment to their pet play a role in the benefits they might gain in stress reduction due to pet ownership. A survey was sent to social work clinicians and students which included the Perceived Stress Scale and Lexington Attachment to Pet Scale. Forty-nine individuals responded. The findings of the research showed that pet owners reported significantly lower stress when compared to non pet owners, and stress …

The Other Frontline Workers : Exploring The Symptoms Of Compassion Fatigue Among School Staff Members, Katherine H. Plapinger

Theses, Dissertations, and Projects

This study was conducted to determine whether or not school employees are experiencing compassion fatigue. The research question for this study is: Are school employees experiencing compassion fatigue? This study included examining ways in which they identified levels of burnout, secondary trauma and compassion satisfaction. A quantitative study was conducted using snowball-sampling techniques to administer an online survey that asked participants to report demographic information and complete the Professional Quality of Life Scale (ProQOL). 121 participants identified as fulltime employees of a school and as English speaking and over the age of eighteen. Findings point to low levels of compassion …

Factors Affecting Turnover And Turnover Intention Among Clinicians Who Work With Sex Offenders, Abigail Kirschbaum

Theses, Dissertations, and Projects

This study is a qualitative analysis of interviews from 11 clinicians who work with sex offenders concerning the relationship between organizational factors, client and clinician characteristics and turnover. Initial findings revealed that the majority of participants did not struggle with turnover or turnover intention. Of participants who did experience turnover intention, factors cited as influencing turnover intention ranged from organizational factors, personal reasons and characteristic specific to the population. Vicarious trauma and burnout were also factors reviewed as influences of turnover and turnover intention. Other findings such as specific characteristics of the clinician, characteristics of the client, external/organizational factors, and …

Hope And Burnout Among Clinicians Who Work With Children At Risk Of Abuse, Neglect, Or Exploitation, Jonathan G. Mitchelmore

Theses, Dissertations, and Projects

This research study was a quantitative, exploratory investigation of the relationship between hope and burnout among clinicians who work on cases involving children at risk of abuse, neglect, or exploitation. An electronic questionnaire, featuring the Maslach Burnout Inventory – Human Services Survey (MBI-HSS) and the Hope Trait Scale, was administered anonymously to 74 social workers currently practicing in the United States. The major areas of inquiry included levels of hope and levels of burnout. Demographic characteristics of the participants were correlated with their reported levels of hope and burnout. Participants had higher-than-average scores on the Hope Trait Scale, and lower-than-average …

Do We Practice What We Preach? : An Exploratory Study Of Individual, Academic, And Agency Approaches For Ameliorating Vicarious Trauma, Loren R. Biggs

Theses, Dissertations, and Projects

This study was undertaken to determine what training trauma-focused clinicians are receiving at the graduate or professional level to prevent burnout, secondary traumatic stress, compassion fatigue, and vicarious trauma, as well as what individual, agency, and institutionallevel interventions clinicians find effective in preventing or ameliorating these phenomena and promoting compassion satisfaction. Thirteen trauma-focused clinicians with a broad diversity of clinical, professional, and educational backgrounds participated in a semi-structured interview which sought more information about individual self-care practices and clinicians' assessment of information and training received at the graduate and professional level related to vicarious trauma. These interviews were followed by …

Therapeutic Physical Intervention And Direct Care Behavioral Health Providers : A Project Based Upon An Investigation Of Direct Care Behavioral Health Providers' Experiences Of Therapeutic Interventions, Rebecca H. Voit

Theses, Dissertations, and Projects

The purpose of this quantitative study was to investigate the relationship among the frequency and perceived emotional intensity of therapeutic physical interventions, social support in the work place, and levels of compassion satisfaction/fatigue, burnout, and secondary traumatic stress. This study explored the experiences of direct care behavioral health providers who work with service users in therapeutic milieus across the country. It was hypothesized that as the frequency and emotional intensity of therapeutic physical interventions increased, levels of compassion fatigue, burnout, and secondary traumatic stress would increase. A negative relationship was hypothesized to occur between social support in the work place …

How Do They Do It? : An Exploratoration Of Program Supports Within Agency Settings And Levels Of Compassion Fatigue And Compassion Satisfaction Among Direct Care Staff Members Working In Residential Treatment Facilities, Kathryn Philomena Welch

Theses, Dissertations, and Projects

This quasi-experimental study examines the impact of program supports in agency settings on levels of compassion fatigue and compassion satisfaction among direct care staff members working in residential treatment settings, with consideration of demographics and personal characteristics inherent in the worker, by asking the following questions: Are there significant differences in levels of compassion fatigue and compassion satisfaction depending on utilization of program supports among direct care staff members? Do variables of gender, ethnicity, income, education and training, previous work experience and length of time working in current position impact levels of compassion fatigue and compassion satisfaction? This study utilizes …

An Examination Of The Relationship Between Self-Compassion And Burnout In Practicing Psychotherapists : A Project Based Upon An Independent Investigation, Jennifer Ann Thurlow

Theses, Dissertations, and Projects

Burnout is particularly a problem among people whose work involves responding to human suffering; therefore, without adequate personal resources to draw from, psychotherapists are especially at risk. Self-compassion is a powerful coping skill, thus therapists may be protected from burnout through the practice. The purpose of this study was to examine how self-compassion is related to burnout in practicing psychotherapists. It was hypothesized that higher total self-compassion scores would be associated with lower scores on the burnout subscales of emotional exhaustion and depersonalization and that higher scores of total self-compassion would be associated with higher scores on the burnout subscale …