Occupational stress amongst audiologists: Compassion satisfaction, compassion fatigue, and burnout

Abstract

Abstract

Objective: This study aimed to investigate occupational stress amongst audiologists, along with quantification of their professional quality of life: Burnout, compassion fatigue, and compassion satisfaction. Design: A cross-sectional postal survey research design using an audiology occupational stress questionnaire (AOSQ), and the professional quality of life (ProQOL) instrument. Study sample: The sample consisted of members of the New Zealand Audiological Society. One hundred and forty-five questionnaires were mailed, 82 responses were received. Results: The main findings suggest that six stress factors dominate clinical audiology: (1) time demand, (2) audiological management, (3) patient contact, (4) clinical protocol, (5) patient accountability, and (6) administration or equipment. A significant relationship was found between increasing age of the audiologist and risk of acquiring burnout (chi-square (1) = 6.119, p < 0.05). Pearson's correlation's revealed time demand was the strongest predictor of low compassion satisfaction (r = 0.327) and burnout (r = 0.463), while stress associated with patient contact was the strongest predictor of compassion fatigue (r = 0.352). Conclusions: This study identifies sources of stress for clinical audiologists and different factors that contribute to professional quality of life.

Key Words::

• Occupational stress
• burnout
• compassion fatigue
• compassion satisfaction
• healthcare professional
• audiologist

Acknowledgements

The authors appreciate the assistance of Dr Elizabeth Robinson in the statistical analysis, and Maree Gunn (NZAS) for distributing the questionnaires. The Deafness Research Foundation of New Zealand funded this research.

Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.