Compassion Satisfaction and Compassion Fatigue among Violence Intervention Caseworkers

Abstract

Violence intervention programs aim to help clients overcome trauma, but, due to the demands of their profession, caseworkers are at risk for experiencing low compassion satisfaction and high compassion fatigue. This cross-sectional study sought to describe the prevalence of compassion satisfaction and compassion fatigue (burnout and secondary traumatic stress [STS]) among 93 caseworkers. Participants completed the Professional Quality of Life Survey at a conference for a national network of hospital-based violence intervention programs in September 2018. Results displayed high compassion satisfaction across demographic groups, while participants significantly differed in compassion fatigue by years of experience and workplace setting. Caseworkers who had been working in their profession for 6–10 years experienced higher levels of burnout than those working fewer years (p = 0.02). Further, caseworkers employed in a single program setting experienced significantly lower levels of STS than those who work in both a community and hospital setting (p = 0.01). This analysis stands in contrast to previous studies showing higher levels of compassion fatigue in younger, and less experienced healthcare workers. Further studies are warranted to determine how the prevalence of compassion fatigue in victim advocates compares to those of other healthcare providers and which interventions can best promote compassion satisfaction.

Keywords:

• Vicarious trauma
• violence intervention
• burnout
• trauma advocates
• compassion fatigue
• secondary traumatic stress

Disclosure statement

The authors of this research paper report that it has not been published in any other research journal or previous publications. The contents of this article were presented at the Healing Justice Alliance’s 2019 annual Health Alliance for Violence Intervention (HAVI) conference in September 10, 2019, in Sacramento, California. There are no relationships, affiliations, or sources of funding or other support that may be perceived as conflicts of interest for the authors of this research article.

Funding

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.