Compassion Fatigue Among Animal Shelter Volunteers: Examining Personal and Organizational Risk Factors

ABSTRACT

Compassion fatigue (CF) is a prevalent issue in both human- and animal-care-related industries and is a concern due to its negative effect on mental health and retainment in the profession. Individuals working in animal shelters are particularly at risk for CF from exposure to euthanasia, abandonment, and cruelty to animals. The effect of CF on animal shelter employees has been well-documented; however, volunteers may also be at risk yet have received relatively little consideration. The aim of the present study was to report the degree to which animal shelter volunteers may experience CF and to identify the personal and organizational factors that are associated with increased levels of it. All shelters in Michigan, USA were invited to participate in this study. Shelters were asked to distribute an online survey to their active volunteers that consisted of questions related to CF, satisfaction with their work, input on euthanasia decisions, relationships between staff and volunteers, type of work performed, time spent volunteering, and a variety of shelter-related and personal characteristics. Volunteers (n = 530) reported varying degrees of CF, with 61% indicating in response to a single question that they were consistently preoccupied with thoughts of animals in their care. A multivariate regression model found that CF was inversely associated with feelings of satisfaction related to their volunteer work (p < 0.0001), but positively associated with time per week spent volunteering (p < 0.001) and gratitude expressed by the shelter (p = 0.003). Finally, volunteers in shelters with lower live release rates and open intake reported increased CF (p < 0.001). Overall, the data suggest that animal shelter volunteers do experience CF, and shelter-level factors may be relatively stronger predictors of it compared with personal factors. These findings may be useful for animal shelters trying to retain volunteers while also ensuring their positive mental health and overall well-being.

KEYWORDS:

• Animal shelter
• burnout
• compassion fatigue
• human–animal interaction
• secondary traumatic stress
• volunteer

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.