The purpose of this study is to investigate the factors of social worker and allied professional’s professional quality of life, particularly the impact of the professional’s childhood psychological abuse on compassion fatigue and compassion satisfaction scores. Variables such as perceived resilience, social support, childhood psychological abuse, evidence-based practice training, years of experience, percentage of clients with trauma narratives, and case-load number are explored both conceptually and as risk or protective factors to social worker and allied professional’s compassion fatigue and compassion satisfaction. A conceptual model is provided to visually show the direction of the proposed research. The sample to be used in this research consists of two-hundred-eighteen social worker and allied professionals in the United States who predominantly have a master’s degree or higher. A simple correlation analysis will be used to see any direct correlations between variables used in this study: childhood psychological abuse and its three components, compassion satisfaction, burnout, compassion fatigue, perceived resilience, social support and its three components, evidence-based training, education level, caseload, percentage of client trauma, and years of experience in the field. Multiple regression analysis will also be utilized in this research study to identify any relationship between the aforementioned variables and compassion satisfaction and compassion fatigue. In focusing on the research question for this study, an examination of the simple correlational matrix found, for this sample of MSW social workers and allied professionals, no significant correlation between childhood psychological abuse and compassion fatigue or compassion satisfaction. Additionally, in running two separate regression models, one for predicting compassion fatigue and one for predicting compassion satisfaction, childhood psychological abuse was not a significant predictor for this sample’s study. Findings from this study disagree with the only study that attempts to measure childhood psychological abuse of the social worker and their reaction to secondary traumatic stress (Nelson-Gardell & Harris, 2004). There are two main differences between the two study samples: education, training level, and work experience, perhaps suggesting that social workers who are master’s level educated or higher are better protected from compassion fatigue related symptomology, or that the Nelson-Gardell & Harris study’s predominantly child welfare worker sample is encountering client trauma in a way that is unique from this study’s sample. Implications from this study’s findings are explored suggesting further research into the effects of education and evidence-based training as a protective factor from the effects of childhood psychological abuse on compassion fatigue and compassion satisfaction.

Compassion fatigue is a secondary stress reaction that results from providing care to those undergoing traumatic life events. Frequent exposure to dying patients with complex medical concerns has been identified as a contributing factor to compassion fatigue and resultant turnover among hospice nurses. The purpose of this project was to assess whether the provision of education to hospice nurses regarding compassion fatigue resulted in a demonstrable improvement in their levels of compassion fatigue. Watson's theory of human caring and Roy's adaptation model provided the theoretical foundation for this project. The practice-focused question for this project asked whether a reduction in compassion fatigue among hospice nurses would result after providing them with educational material focused on compassion fatigue. Twenty-three hospice nurse participants were administered Stamm's Professional Quality of Life Scale to measure their compassion fatigue levels before and after being presented with an educational booklet. Scores for this project were compared using a before-and-after quality improvement design and percent difference to measure the impact of the educational offering. Results demonstrated an 8.6% reduction in compassion fatigue among the hospice nurse participants, indicating that educational interventions support a positive effect in reducing compassion fatigue. Positive social change might result from this project by improving nurses' awareness of the need for self-care that contributes to resiliency and prevention of compassion fatigue.

This dissertation was an exploratory research study using a cross-sectional survey design to examine the impact of ecological, environmental, psychological, and financial hardship on counselors of the U.S. Gulf Region. Since 2005, the U.S. Gulf Region, unlike any other region of the United States, has faced multiple disasters including Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, Ike and Gustav (Walsh, 2010), the Great Recession (Conant, 2010), and the largest ecological disaster in the history of the United States, the BP Oil Spill (Gray, 2010). The purpose of this study was to explore the attitudes and characteristics of counselors in one U.S. Gulf State, specifically Mississippi, to obtain valuable information about compassion fatigue and compassion satisfaction of counselors as measured by the Professional Quality of Life (ProQOL) (Stamm, 2009). The researcher used a demographic survey and the ProQOL (Stamm) for analyses. The researcher collected the ProQOL (Stamm) sub-scale scores of 282 Mississippi counselors who attended the 60th Annual Mississippi Counseling Conference. The counselors recorded high compassion satisfaction scores, low burnout scores and low secondary traumatic stress scores. Additionally, the researcher used one-way MANOVAs to examine the main effects of counselor characteristics such as educational level, gender, geographic location, self-care methods, and years of experience on the ProQOL (Stamm) sub-scale means of compassion satisfaction, burnout, and secondary traumatic stress. The researcher found two statistically significant differences in gender and years of experience. Male participants’ burnout and secondary traumatic stress scores were significantly less than female participants’ burnout and secondary traumatic stress scores. Participants with 1-10 years of experience recorded statistically significant higher burnout scores and lower compassion satisfaction scores than participants with less than one year of experience, 10-20 years of experience, and more than 20 years of experience. In contrast to assumptions related to the ecological, environmental, psychological, and financial hardship present in this region, high levels of satisfaction was found in counselors who serve this region. The researcher found that despite the impact of these multiple traumatic events these counselors were satisfied with their work.

A growing literature documents the inherently stressful nature of working with persons who are suffering or traumatized, and the potential for the development of stress disorders among social workers and other helpers. Previous studies of compassion fatigue and burnout have provided important information about professional and workplace variables that might influence risk, but little attention has been given to studying intrapersonal skills/abilities that might reduce risk and/or increase resilience and work satisfaction among helping professionals. This exploratory study asked whether levels of mindfulness, empathy, and emotional separation would influence professional quality of life, including compassion fatigue, burnout, and compassion satisfaction. Surveys consisting of demographic questions and four established scales measuring professional quality of life, mindfulness, empathy, and emotional separation were mailed to a random sample of 400 licensed clinical social workers in Kentucky. Data were collected between Mar. 8, 2008, and May 29, 2008, and included 171 usable surveys, a 42% response rate. Data were analyzed using ordinary least squares multiple regression, analysis of variance tests, and Sobel tests of mediation. Findings show significant, direct associations of higher mindfulness and emotional separation scores with higher compassion satisfaction scores and lower burnout scores. Higher emotional separation was also directly and significantly associated with lower compassion fatigue, and mediation tests suggested an indirect negative relationship between mindfulness and compassion fatigue as well. The personal distress empathy subscale had a significant, direct, negative association with compassion satisfaction, while empathic concern had a significant, direct, positive association. In addition, tests for mediation suggested significant indirect effects of personal distress on all three dependent variables. Results suggest that an increased emphasis on the intentional management of internal emotional states may be as important for clinicians as it is for clients, and that professional training programs should consider how best to teach such skills.

The psychological benefits of self-compassion, a construct associated with adaptively dealing with emotional suffering from life's problems appear to overlap with those of trait resiliency in terms of theoretical underpinnings and outcome research. This study investigated the relationship between self-compassion, personality, and gender in order to shed light on the construct's relevance to an existing framework of resiliency personality research. One hundred and twenty-three college students completed the Big Five Inventory (BFI) and Self-compassion Scale (SCS). A cluster-analysis of the BFI scores yielded three cluster prototypes consistent with overcontrolled, undercontrolled, and resilient personality prototypes identified in previous studies of children and adult community samples. Analyses revealed resilient individuals reported significantly higher overall Self-compassion (M = 3.08, SD = .25) compared to both overcontrolled (M = 2.85, SD = .20, t = -4.32, p <= .00) and undercontrolled types (M = 2.90, SD = .25, t = 3.53, p <= .00). Interestingly, there were no significant differences between overcontrolled and undercontrolled types or between men and women, on overall Self-compassion. A two by three MANOVA of gender and personality prototype on the SCS revealed a significant interaction on overall Self-compassion score (F = 3.92, p <= .02) and the Common Humanity subscale (F = 3.81, p <= .03). Post hoc analyses were conducted to examine the nature of the gender and personality interactions. The theoretical issues raised by these results are discussed and recommendations are made for utilizing self-compassion in treatment and future research.

Intresset för self-compassions effekt på psykologiskt välbefinnande har ökat. Self-compassion är negativt associerat med självkritik, ångest och upptagenhet av och utvärdering av den egna kroppen. Self-compassion anses skydda mot de negativa effekterna av perfektionism. Eftersom self-compassion tros förbättra mental hälsa är det av vikt att undersöka vilka variabler som predicerar self-compassion. Denna studies syfte var att undersöka om variablerna kroppsuppfattning och perfektionism predicerade self-compassion. Självskattningsformulären Self-compassion Scale Short Form, Frosts´s Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale och Body Shape Questionnaire-8C administrerades till deltagarna. Resultatet beräknades med hjälp av hierarkiska regressionsanalyser. Resultatet påvisade att subskalan för perfektionism, Concern over Mistakes och Doubts about Actions, och kön signifikant predicerade self-compassion och förklarade en signifikant andel av variansen i self-compassion. Kroppsuppfattning predicerade inte self-compassion signifikant och förklarade inte en signifikant andel av variansen i self-compassion. Framtida forskning angående eventuell överrensstämmelse mellan perfektionism och kroppsuppfattning önskas. / The interest of the effect of self-compassion on psychological wellbeing has increased. Self-compassion is negatively associated with self-criticism, anxiety and obsession over and evaluation of the own body. Self-compassion is considered to protect against the negative effects of perfectionism. Since self-compassion is believed to improve mental health, it is important to investigate which variables that predict self-compassion. The aim of this study was to examine if the variables body image and perfectionism predicted self-compassion. The self- report questionnaires Self-compassion Scale Short Form, Frosts´s Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale and Body Shape Questionnaire-8C were administered to the participants. The result was calculated using hierarchical regression analysis. The result demonstrated that the subscale regarding perfectionism, Concern over Mistakes and Doubts about Actions, and sex significantly predicted self-compassion and explained a significant proportion of the variance in self-compassion. Body image did not significantly predict self-compassion and did not explain a significant proportion of the variance in self-compassion. Further research regarding potential concordance between perfectionism and body image is desirable.

BAKGRUND: Det råder idag brist på sjuksköterskor i Sverige, denna brist förväntas öka under de kommande åren till följd av en ökad befolkning i landet. Enligt en undersökning av Statistiska Centralbyrånstatistik från 2014 arbetar en av tio legitimerade sjuksköterskor inte inom vården och en av de största anledningarna till detta är stress. Ett tämligen nbytt begrepp i Sverige, Compassion Fatigue, är ett tillstånd av sekundär traumatisk stress som drabbar personer i vårdgivande roller. Detta tillstånd är relativt outforskat inom svensk sjukvård. SYFTE: Syftet var att belysa faktorer som kan bidra till utvecklandet av compassion fatigue bland sjuksköterskor. METOD: En litteraturöversikt enligt Fribergs metod som baserades på sju studier av kvantitativ metod, två studier av kvalitativ metod och en studie som använt mixad metod. RESULTAT: Resultatet presenteras utifrån fem huvudkategorier: Demografiska faktorer (ålder, kön och civilstånd); Miljörelaterade faktorer (betydelsen av ledarskap, arbetsbelastning och personalomsättning); Yrkesrelaterade faktorer (utbildningsnivå, yrkeserfarenhet, arbetstid och avdelning); Coping (hälsosamma och ohälsosamma hanteringsstrategier); Bekräftelse och stöd (från kollegor, ledning och anhöriga). DISKUSSION:I diskussionen uppmärksammasidentifieras bristen av kunskap om compassion fatigue, bland såväl sjuksköterskor som ledning, som ett betydelsefullt bifynd vilket kan vara en bakomliggande orsak till utvecklandet. Utbildning och stödjande åtgärder kan utformas baserade på Watsons teori om mänsklig omsorg för att förebygga utvecklandet av Compassion Fatigue. / BACKGROUND: There is currently a shortage of nursing staff in Sweden. Following on from a population increase, this shortage is expected to increase in upcoming years. According to 2014 statistics, one out of ten licensed nurses do not work within a healthcare setting, and one of the main contributing factors to this is stress. Stress is also the main reason for sick leave among nurses. A fairly new concept in Sweden, Compassion Fatigue, is a condition of secondary traumatic stress, which affects healthcare professionals. This condition is relatively unexplored in Sweden. AIM: The aim of this literature review was to shed light onhighlight factors that may impact on the development of compassion fatigue among nurses. METHOD: A literature review according to Friberg’s method which was based on seven quantitative studies, two qualitative studies and one study of mixed methods. RESULTS: The results are presented based on five main categories: Demographic factors (age, gender and marital status); Environmental factors (importance of leadership, work load and staff turnover); Occupational factors (level of education, professional experience, working hours and department); Coping (healthy and unhealthy management strategies); Acknowledgement and support (from colleagues, management and relatives). DISCUSSION: A lack of knowledge about Compassion Fatigue among nurses as well as management is the main reason for its developtment. Education and supportive measures, based on Watson’s theory of human caring, can be used to prevent Compassion Fatigue.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:35:04Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2010-08-13Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T19:44:52Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 bronzatto_m_dr_arafcl.pdf: 2011971 bytes, checksum: 28e42d9df6fbbfc6e3fa768665482f91 (MD5) / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / Vive-se uma época crepuscular do dever, a meio caminho entre a agonia moral e a renovação ética. Estudos recentes na área da Psicologia Moral têm demonstrado que se os valores morais se tornarem centrais nas representações de si das pessoas, esse querer particular, o dever, será sentido com força e prevalecerá sobre outros quereres estranhos ou contrários à moral. Tudo o que se tem a fazer é investir a personalidade com tais valores. Mas como, se o Bem é átono e as ações morais, pouco prestigiadas socialmente como traduções de excelência do ser no tempo presente? De tal problematização nasce este estudo, cuja proposição foi a de investigar a influência do recebimento de um atendimento magnânimo de compaixão como um fator impulsionador do querer fazer moral. Sem pretender com esse sentimento fundar uma moral, estudamo-lo sob dois aspectos: 1º) realizando uma análise psicológica e filosófica de algumas obras clássicas do mundo ficcional que o tematizam; e 2º) por meio de uma pesquisa empírica, indo a campo ouvir 50 adolescentes entre 15 e 18 anos sobre como concebem a compaixão e se estar sob seus efeitos, depois de tê-la experimentado (em situações hipotéticas, veiculadas por meio de narrativas a eles apresentadas), contribui para desviar um pouco seus olhares de si mesmos e colocá-los no outro, enxergando suas necessidades e direitos e realizando escolhas morais correspondentes. O resultado a que se chegou com a pesquisa empírica pode assim ser traduzido: pela admiração e gratidão que suscita, pela gratuidade que veicula, pelo valor que confere e pelo desequilíbrio que provoca, um atendimento magnânimo de compaixão motiva grandemente para o querer fazer moral. O estudo com a literatura ficcional, que, entre outras análises, incluiu a dos romances “O Idiota”, de Dostoiévski, e “Os Miseráveis”, de Victor Hugo, possibilitou uma... / We live in a twilight age of duty, midway between moral agony and ethical renewal. Recent studies in the area of Moral Psychology have shown that if moral values become central to the self-representations of people, this peculiar desire or duty will be felt with such strength that it will prevail over other desires that are strange or opposed to morality. All you have to do is to invest your character with such values. But how can you do this, if the Good is unassertive and moral actions have little social prestige, at present, as manifestations of excellence? This perplex issue is what gave birth to the present study, the proposition of which was to investigate the influence of receiving the magnanimous touch of compassion as a driving factor in wanting to do moral actions. With no pretense of using this feeling to create a moral system, we examined it under two aspects: 1) conducting a psychological and philosophical analysis of some classic fictional writings that used this subject as a theme, and 2) by means of an empirical research in which 50 teenagers between 15 and 18 years old were interviewed on their concept of compassion and if they felt that being under its effect, after having experienced it (in hypothetical situations, given through narratives presented to them), would help to take their attention off themselves and place it on others, seeing the others’ needs and rights and making the correspondent moral choices. The conclusion that was reached through the empirical research may be expressed as follows: by reason of the admiration and gratitude that is engendered, the graciousness that is imparted, the appreciation that is attributed and the impact that takes one off balance, the magnanimous touch of compassion is a very strong factor that motivates a person to want to act morally. The study of fictional literature, which, among other analyses, included the novels ... (Complete abstract click electronic access balow)

abstract: Multiple studies have found that writing with self-compassion about a difficult event helps promote mental health and improve affect in college students and non-clinical populations (Johnson & O'Brien, 2013; Leary et al, 2007; Shapira & Mongrain, 2010). This study investigated whether a self-compassion writing intervention would lead to increases in self-compassion and proactive coping and reductions in depression and physical symptoms in a sample of individuals with different types of mental illness. This study also looked more broadly at the feasibility of conducting an online randomized trial on individuals with mental illness, including psychotic disorders, on Amazon MTurk. Individuals with schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, bipolar disorder and/or depression on Amazon MTurk were recruited and randomly assigned to either a (1) treatment condition in which participants wrote with self-compassion or a (2) neutral condition in which participants wrote about how they spent their time. Participants were asked to write for 20 minutes each day for three consecutive days. Outcome measures were administered at baseline, after the three-day intervention, and one month later. Computerized linguistic analysis (LIWC; Pennebaker et al., 2015) was also used to analyze participants' writing to determine if the intervention had the intended effect. Both the treatment and control groups showed significant improvements in self-compassion, proactive coping, general mental health and physical health following the intervention and both groups showed significant improvements in self-compassion, proactive coping and general mental health between the post-test and 1-month follow-up. In addition, the self-compassion writing group's positive affect improved significantly more than the control group after the wave 1 writing intervention and the control group's negative affect improved significantly more than the self-compassion writing group after the wave 2 writing intervention. Overall, the results suggest both self-compassion writing and writing about how one spends one's time may be beneficial for individuals with mental illness with different needs. Moreover, it was found Amazon MTurk may not be a reliable platform for recruiting individuals with psychotic disorders, and that the prevalence of individuals with any mental illness on MTurk may be equal or greater than the prevalence of any mental illness in the general population. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Social Work 2018

Bakgrund: Sjuksköterskan ansvarar för omvårdnaden av patienter och för att de ska kunna ge en god vård är det viktigt att ha ett empatiskt förhållningsätt. En möjlig negativ konsekvens av att vårda svårt sjuka och lidande patienter är compassion fatigue som påverkar sjuksköterskans välbefinnande och förmåga att ge patienten en god och säker omvårdnad. Forskning visar att individer inom sjuksköterskeyrket löper en högre risk än andra yrkeskategorier att drabbas av compassion fatigue. Definitionen av compassion fatigue och hur det påverkar sjuksköterskan är inte helt klarlagd då begreppet är relativt nytt. Syfte: Syftet är att beskriva compassion fatigue ur ett sjuksköterskeperspektiv samt beskriva vilka faktorer som orsakar uppkomsten. Metod: Resultatet i denna litteraturstudie är baserad på 12 vetenskapliga artiklar som är granskade enligt Fribergs granskningsmodell.  Resultat: Artiklarna visade att ålder, kön, erfarenhet som sjuksköterska, utbildningsnivå och arbetstider är faktorer som påverkar uppkomsten till compassion fatigue. De visar även att sjuksköterskan upplever att kunskapsbristen är en orsak till compassion fatigue, samt att det egna känslolivet, omvårdnaden av patienter och arbetsmiljön påverkas. Diskussion: Då det råder kunskapsbrist bland sjuksköterskor om ämnet och att detta upplevs som en orsak till compassion fatigue, bör sjuksköterskor redan under grundutbildningen undervisas om att sjuksköterskeyrket kan leda till personlig ohälsa. Många sjuksköterskor lämnar yrket på grund av compassion fatigue. Detta leder till en försämrad hållbar utveckling genom ökade kostnader, sämre arbetsmiljöer och försämrad patientsäkerhet.