Professional quality of life among health care professionals in cystic fibrosis and child and adolescent mental health

Abstract

Purpose is to investigate and compare professional quality of life (ProQoL) among health care providers (HCPs) in cystic fibrosis (CF) ambulances and inpatient clinic for child and adolescent psychiatry.

The ProQoL R-IV Inventory was administered to 96 HCPs to investigate: compassion satisfaction, burnout, and secondary traumatic stress (STS).

HCPs in CF centers and inpatient psychiatry did not differ in their ProQoL. However, the occupational groups differed regarding STS (F(3,92)=3.726, p=.01). Physicians reported more STS than other groups. Longer work experience was associated with more STS (r=-0.21, p=.04). Regular screening should be put in place to identify HCPs at risk of decreased ProQoL.

Keywords:

• Professional quality of life
• compassion satisfaction
• burnout and secondary traumatic stress
• Cystic Fibrosis Centers
• Clinic for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry

Ethical approval

The present study received ethics approval from the IRB at Ulm University (08/15 and 249/15). The informed consent of the study participants was obtained. The authors assert that all procedures contributing to this work comply with the ethical standards of the relevant national guidelines on human experimentation and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2008, and have been approved by the institutional committee (Institutional Review Board at Ulm University, Germany).

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the participating physicians, nurses, educators, psychologists, social workers, nutritionists, physiotherapists, and the other HCPs in the CF centers and the child and adolescent inpatient psychiatry clinic for their support.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The datasets used and/or analyses during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Additional information

Funding

The study was supported by the Federal Ministry of Health, Germany and the Mukoviszidose gGmbH, Germany.