A Síndrome de Burnout é caracterizada por sentimentos de esgotamento físico e emocional, despersonalização e baixa realização pessoal. Constitui-se em uma reação à tensão emocional crônica por lidar excessivamente com outros seres humanos. Acomete principalmente trabalhadores que mantêm uma estreita relação de ajuda, fortalecendo a associação com as responsabilidades inerentes às profissões de cuidados humanitários. Esta investigação se propõe a verificar a provável ocorrência da Síndrome de Burnout em Agentes Comunitários de Saúde, visto que estes profissionais trabalham diretamente no cuidado a outras pessoas, sendo esta característica prevalente em tal Síndrome, bem como as estratégias de enfrentamento utilizadas por estes profissionais. Optou-se pelo método descritivo, transversal e quantitativo. Foram aplicados questionário, Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) e Escala Modos de Enfrentamento de Problemas (EMEP). A amostra foi constituída por 80 ACS escolhidos aleatoriamente, entre aqueles admitidos há pelo menos dois anos no serviço público municipal. Quanto aos resultados obtidos, verifica-se que se trata de uma amostra predominantemente do sexo feminino (93,75%), com filhos (68,75%), na faixa etária de 20 a 30 anos (35%) e com companheiro fixo (60%). Antes de atuar como ACS, 18,75% desta amostra trabalharam como auxiliar de serviços gerais, principalmente o âmbito do trabalho doméstico. A renda per capita de 38,75% é de menos de um salário mínimo e 53,04% estão neste trabalho há mais de seis anos. Têm vida sedentária, pois 66,25% não praticam uma atividade física com freqüência. O MBI revela um sentimento de deterioração da percepção da própria competência e falta de satisfação destes profissionais com o próprio trabalho, não podem dar mais de si emocionalmente, demonstram estarem emocionalmente esgotados e, ainda, verificase o desenvolvimento incipiente de sentimentos e atitudes negativas e cinismo para com as pessoas por eles atendidas. O Modo de Enfrentamento mais utilizado são as estratégias focalizadas no problema, seguida pela busca de práticas religiosas/pensamento fantástico. Verifica-se indícios de sofrimento relacionado ao trabalho característico da Síndrome de Burnout com o esforço de buscar mecanismos que auxiliem no enfrentamento de problemas relacionados ao exercício profissional. Sugere-se estratégias de acolhimento a esses profissionais de forma a auxiliá-los a lidar com o sofrimento no trabalho. / The Burnout Syndrome is characterized by feelings of physical and emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and low level of personal accomplishment. It constitutes a reaction to chronic emotional tension because of excessive contact with other human beings. It mainly affects workers in tight help relations, strengthening the association with the responsibilities inherent in humanitarian care professions. This research aims to verify the probable occurrence of the Burnout Syndrome in Community Health Agents (CHA), as these professionals directly work in care delivery to other people, a prevalent characteristic in this Syndrome, as well as the coping strategies these professionals use. The descriptive, cross-sectional and quantitative study was chosen. A questionnaire, Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) and the Problem-Coping Mode Scale (EMEP) were applied. The sample consisted of 80 CHA, randomly chosen among professionals working at least two years in the municipal public service. The results show that the sample was predominantly female (93.75%), with children (68.75%), between 20 and 30 years old (35%) and with a fixed partner (60%). Before acting as CHA, 18.75% of this sample worked as general service aid, mainly in domestic services. Moreover, 38.75% receive less than one minimum wage as per capita income and 53.04% are doing this job for more than six years. They have a sedentary life, as 66.25% do not work out frequently. The MBI reveals a feeling of deterioration in the perception of one’s own competency and these professionals’ lack of satisfaction with their own work. They cannot dedicate themselves more emotionally, they demonstrate emotional exhaustion. Furthermore, the instrument verified the incipient development of negative feelings and attitudes and cynicism towards the people they deliver care to. The most used Coping Modes are problem-focused strategies, followed by the search for religious practices/fantastic thinking. Levels of suffering are verified, related to the characteristic work of the Burnout Syndrome, accompanied by efforts to seek mechanisms that help to cope with problems related to professional practice. Strategies to welcome these professionals are suggested, so as to help them to deal with suffering at work.

In order to maintain higer competitive power, perfect quality of products and services are requested by enterprises nowadays.What¡¦s more , employees are the important media to carry out it.The media roles employees play are related to personal characteristics-perfectionism. We know that strive for perfectionism is native and inner need during development of human beings.In addition,the reasons which cause perfectionism are not only from rigorous standard of self but also possibly from others¡¦ stringent request or social expectation by significant others.Proper demand and standard are drives which make employees achieve their goals,however,extreme ones lead to burnout or high turnover intention .It deserved to be paid more attention to because they will diminish performance of organization,group and individuals,even bring about the loss of human capital.In this study,we will have the preliminary exploration of the relationship among perfectionism from different requiring sources,burnout and turnover intention.MBI was used mostly in past studies,nevertheless,it is criticized during these times and is possible not to measure the actural burnout result.To improve the situation,we use CBI instead in this study and look forward to observe the effect of perfectionism on burnout and turnover intention. Objets of this study are the full-time employees of science &technology, financial and service industry.We take the questionnaire survey method with convenient sampling to execute this study. Totally we sent out 334 numbers of paper copies and obtained 256 ones.Besides,we got 131 copies from on-line survey.Finally we have 364 valid samples out of the 387 combined sources.We adopted the hierarchical regression modeling to test the hypothesis. The findings are as the following¡GSelf-oriented perfectionism (SOP) is positively associated with personal burnout and personal burnout is also positively associated with turnover intention.However,SOP is negatively associated with turnover intention.This reveals that employees of SOP still have the possibility to increase their turnover intention owing to increasing personal burnout.Other-oriented perfectionism(OOP) shows no significant influence on burnout and is negatively associated with turnover intention.Social- prescribed perfectionism(SPP) is positively associated with both personal & job-related burnout and these two kinds of burnout are also positively related to turnover intention.Nevertheness,SPP can¡¦t predict the relationship with turnover intention directly.Further,burnout is not the mediator variable between perfectionism and turnover intention.Finally,we will offer concrete suggestions for following studies and practical implement .Research limitation is also included .

A Síndrome de Burnout é caracterizada por sentimentos de esgotamento físico e emocional, despersonalização e baixa realização pessoal. Constitui-se em uma reação à tensão emocional crônica por lidar excessivamente com outros seres humanos. Acomete principalmente trabalhadores que mantêm uma estreita relação de ajuda, fortalecendo a associação com as responsabilidades inerentes às profissões de cuidados humanitários. Esta investigação se propõe a verificar a provável ocorrência da Síndrome de Burnout em Agentes Comunitários de Saúde, visto que estes profissionais trabalham diretamente no cuidado a outras pessoas, sendo esta característica prevalente em tal Síndrome, bem como as estratégias de enfrentamento utilizadas por estes profissionais. Optou-se pelo método descritivo, transversal e quantitativo. Foram aplicados questionário, Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) e Escala Modos de Enfrentamento de Problemas (EMEP). A amostra foi constituída por 80 ACS escolhidos aleatoriamente, entre aqueles admitidos há pelo menos dois anos no serviço público municipal. Quanto aos resultados obtidos, verifica-se que se trata de uma amostra predominantemente do sexo feminino (93,75%), com filhos (68,75%), na faixa etária de 20 a 30 anos (35%) e com companheiro fixo (60%). Antes de atuar como ACS, 18,75% desta amostra trabalharam como auxiliar de serviços gerais, principalmente o âmbito do trabalho doméstico. A renda per capita de 38,75% é de menos de um salário mínimo e 53,04% estão neste trabalho há mais de seis anos. Têm vida sedentária, pois 66,25% não praticam uma atividade física com freqüência. O MBI revela um sentimento de deterioração da percepção da própria competência e falta de satisfação destes profissionais com o próprio trabalho, não podem dar mais de si emocionalmente, demonstram estarem emocionalmente esgotados e, ainda, verificase o desenvolvimento incipiente de sentimentos e atitudes negativas e cinismo para com as pessoas por eles atendidas. O Modo de Enfrentamento mais utilizado são as estratégias focalizadas no problema, seguida pela busca de práticas religiosas/pensamento fantástico. Verifica-se indícios de sofrimento relacionado ao trabalho característico da Síndrome de Burnout com o esforço de buscar mecanismos que auxiliem no enfrentamento de problemas relacionados ao exercício profissional. Sugere-se estratégias de acolhimento a esses profissionais de forma a auxiliá-los a lidar com o sofrimento no trabalho. / The Burnout Syndrome is characterized by feelings of physical and emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and low level of personal accomplishment. It constitutes a reaction to chronic emotional tension because of excessive contact with other human beings. It mainly affects workers in tight help relations, strengthening the association with the responsibilities inherent in humanitarian care professions. This research aims to verify the probable occurrence of the Burnout Syndrome in Community Health Agents (CHA), as these professionals directly work in care delivery to other people, a prevalent characteristic in this Syndrome, as well as the coping strategies these professionals use. The descriptive, cross-sectional and quantitative study was chosen. A questionnaire, Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) and the Problem-Coping Mode Scale (EMEP) were applied. The sample consisted of 80 CHA, randomly chosen among professionals working at least two years in the municipal public service. The results show that the sample was predominantly female (93.75%), with children (68.75%), between 20 and 30 years old (35%) and with a fixed partner (60%). Before acting as CHA, 18.75% of this sample worked as general service aid, mainly in domestic services. Moreover, 38.75% receive less than one minimum wage as per capita income and 53.04% are doing this job for more than six years. They have a sedentary life, as 66.25% do not work out frequently. The MBI reveals a feeling of deterioration in the perception of one’s own competency and these professionals’ lack of satisfaction with their own work. They cannot dedicate themselves more emotionally, they demonstrate emotional exhaustion. Furthermore, the instrument verified the incipient development of negative feelings and attitudes and cynicism towards the people they deliver care to. The most used Coping Modes are problem-focused strategies, followed by the search for religious practices/fantastic thinking. Levels of suffering are verified, related to the characteristic work of the Burnout Syndrome, accompanied by efforts to seek mechanisms that help to cope with problems related to professional practice. Strategies to welcome these professionals are suggested, so as to help them to deal with suffering at work.

A través de la investigación se buscó determinar los niveles de las dimensiones del Síndrome de Burnout en el personal asistencial de salud de un hospital de Chiclayo; dado que la exigencia que implica trabajar en dicha institución podría generar dicho síndrome. Se evaluó a 288 trabajadores a través del Inventario de Burnout de Maslach (MBI), obteniendo, de manera general, un nivel alto para la dimensión despersonalización y niveles medios para las dimensiones desgaste emocional y realización personal. El 19% del personal evaluado padece el síndrome en sus tres dimensiones. Además, se consiguieron resultados específicos según las variables demográficas: sexo, edad, estado civil, número de hijos, profesión, área de servicio, tiempo realizando labores asistenciales, tiempo de labores en la institución y tipo de contrato. Se detectó que los profesionales divorciados padecían Burnout.

Nous nous sommes proposé d’étudier la constitution d’un épuisement professionnel (burnout) chez une population de 105 thérapeutes algériens (psychiatres et psychologues) étant intervenus auprès des victimes des événements tragiques qui ont frappé l’Algérie dans les années 1990, 2001 et 2003, à savoir une vague d’attentats terroristes, l’inondation de Bab el Oued et le séisme de Boumerdès. Notre hypothèse de départ était étayée par le fait que thérapeutes et patients, relevant du même contexte psychosocial, avaient été les uns et les autres psychologiquement perturbés par ces événements et que, pour les thérapeutes, l’écoute empathique des récits d’horreur racontés par leurs patients pouvait exercer un effet de traumatisation vicariante, source de trauma secondaire et d’installation plus rapide d’un épuisement professionnel. Pour explorer l’expérience vécue de ces thérapeutes, nous leur avons fait passer un questionnaire de 28 items, précisé et complété d’une façon anonyme; et nous avons recherché chez eux d’une part l’existence d’un état de stress post-traumatique en nous référant aux critères cliniques du DSM-IV-TR, et d’autre part l’existence d’un burnout par application du Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI). Nous avons croisé nos résultats avec le sexe, l’âge, la profession et l’ancienneté dans la profession ; et aussi en opposant les deux sous-populations de thérapeutes : ceux qui avaient été directement exposés à un événement potentiellement traumatisant, et ceux qui ne l’avaient pas été. Les résultats ont montré que la presque totalité de ces thérapeutes intervenants remplit les critères A et B du DSM-IV-TR (PTSD).Cela laisse sous entendre que vivre - directement ou indirectement - un traumatisme en Algérie, quels que soient sa violence et les vécus d’horreur et d’impuissance qu’il engendre, est susceptible de faire naître ensuite des symptômes d’intrusion. Par contre, les attitudes d’évitement et les manifestations neurovégétatives (critères C et D du DSM-IV-TR) n’étaient présentes que pour certains, représentant les conséquences de leur détresse, sans constituer pour autant la totalité de cette détresse et des autres aspects éprouvants du vécu. Ces tableaux sémiologiques laissent transparaître un accomplissement personnel plus faible du thérapeute à l’égard de son travail, voire le développement en cours d’un état d’épuisement professionnel. Les réponses au questionnaire montrent aussi que l’auto insatisfaction, le désir de donner plus et la crainte de « mal faire » en temps de crise ont été au centre des préoccupations des thérapeutes algériens. Aucun des critères de sexe, de profession, d’âge et d’expérience professionnelle n’est significativement corrélé avec la vulnérabilité du thérapeute confronté à des visions d’horreur ou des images tragiques sur le terrain ; ni corrélé avec les résultats obtenus à l’inventaire de burnout de Maslach. Il en est autrement pour les éventuelles décharges émotives que les thérapeutes ont pu manifester lors de leurs interventions auprès des traumatisés ; ces décharges émotives sont plus le fait des femmes que des hommes. Par ailleurs, la vulnérabilité à l’impact du trauma trouve ses assises dans la personnalité de chacun, et dans les expériences antérieures de chaque personne. Avoir vécu directement le terrorisme, les catastrophes naturelles ou d’autres événements potentiellement traumatisants ainsi que les autres traumatismes collectifs, ne favorise pas l’épuisement émotionnel, ni l’autoévaluation négative à travers la réduction de l’accomplissement personnel dans l’intervention du thérapeute. Par ailleurs, les thérapeutes qui n’ont personnellement vécu que les catastrophes naturelles semblent avoir moins tendance à réagir par le cynisme dans leur relation au patient, ou par la déshumanisation : le fait de partager le même contexte psychosocial avec leurs semblables les inciterait à faire preuve de plus de compassion. Il semble évident que le thérapeute algérien a fait de son mieux pour offrir le meilleur de lui, au détriment de son propre vécu. Il ne s’est pas permis de « lâcher », compte tenu de son statut de soignant. Il avait aussi conscience de contribuer à la reconstruction de toute une génération, à travers l’écoute empathique et le bon geste offerts aux victimes. / We decided to study the development of burnout in a group of 105 Algerian therapists (psychiatrists and psychologists) who treated victims of various tragic events that happened in Algeria during the 1990s, in 2001 and in 2003, namely several terrorist attacks, the Boumerdès earthquake, and the flood of Bab-el-Oued. Our initial hypothesis was supported by the fact that therapists and patients coming from the same psycho-social context were both affected psychologically by those events, and that for the therapists, listening empathetically to the horror stories told by their patients could create a vicarious trauma, which is a source of secondary trauma and a factor favorable to a faster occurrence of burnout.In order to investigate the experiences lived by those therapists, we presented them with a 28-question survey to be answered anonymously. We looked for the presence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) using clinical criteria referenced in the DSM-IV-TR and the presence of a burnout according to the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI). We cross-examined our results with the sex, age, profession and seniority level and by comparing two sub-groups of therapists: those who had been directly exposed to a potentially traumatic event and those who had not. The results demonstrated that almost all the therapists met criteria A and B of the DSM-IV-TR (PTSD). This implies that experiencing – directly or indirectly – a trauma in Algeria, irrelevantly of the violence, the horror and the feelings of helplessness experienced, is likely to lead to symptoms of intrusion. On the other hand, attitudes of avoidance and neuro-vegetative manifestations (criteria C and D of the DSM-IV-TR) were only present for some, representing the result of their distress without however constituting the totality of this distress and the other trying aspects of their experience. These tables of symptoms show a weaker self-fulfillment regarding work and possibly the initial stage of burnout. The survey answers also show that self-dissatisfaction, the desire to give more, and the fear of failure in times of crisis were the main source of anxiety for the Algerian therapists.Criteria such as sex, profession, age and seniority do not correlate significantly with the vulnerability of the therapists exposed to horrific or tragic scenes in the field, nor do they correlate with the results obtained from the MBI. We cannot say the same of the possible emotional releases that the therapists may have expressed while intervening with their traumatized patients: those emotional releases are more present for women than men. In other respects, the vulnerability caused by the trauma is rooted in one’s personality and past experiences. Having directly experienced terrorism, natural catastrophes or other potentially traumatizing events as well as the other mass traumas, does not favor the burnout or the negative self-evaluation through diminished self-accomplishment during the therapists’ interventions. In other respects, therapists who have personally experienced natural catastrophes only seem to be less likely to react by dehumanizing the patient-therapist relationship; sharing the same psycho-social context with their fellow citizens would invite them to show more compassion. It seems obvious that the Algerian therapists did all they could to offer the best of themselves, at the expense of their own experience. They did not allow themselves to give up because of their practitioners’ status. They also found important to contribute to the rebuilding of an entire generation through their empathetic listening and good deeds offered to the victims.

Objetivo: Estimar la asociación entre la depresión y el Síndrome de Burnout en médicos residentes e internos de medicina en el Hospital Nacional Daniel Alcides Carrión en el año 2015. Métodos: Estudio observacional, descriptivo y analítico transversal, de datos estadísticos de encuestas realizadas en el Hospital Nacional Daniel Alcides Carrión en el año 2015. Se incluyen a todos médicos residentes e internos de medicina del Hospital que acepten participar en la investigación y que su permanencia laboral sea mayor a dos semanas. La información se manejó y almacenó en una base de datos creada en el paquete de hoja de cálculo de Microsoft Excel 2010 y el análisis estadístico se realizó y evaluó con el paquete estadístico Stata 14. Resultados: La muestra estuvo conformada por 39 médicos residentes y 81 internos de medicina que cumplieron la muestra de inclusión y exclusión. Se encontró asociación entre la presencia de Síndrome de Burnout y depresión con un OR: 83.06, IC 95%:24.81 – 278.04 y p<0.001, medida por regresión logística. Conclusiones: La prevalencia global del Síndrome de Burnout fue 46.7% El Síndrome de Burnout desarrolla 83 veces más depresión en personas que sufren esta enfermedad que en los que no la padecen. En general se demuestra que el Síndrome de Burnout es un factor de riesgo alto, estadísticamente significativo, para desarrollar depresión. Palabras claves: Síndrome de Burnout, Depresión, médicos residente, internos de medicina / --- Objective: To estimate the association between depression and burnout syndrome in medical residents and interns of medicine at the National Daniel Alcides Carrión Hospital in 2015. Methods: Cross-sectional, descriptive and analytical study, statistical data from surveys conducted at the National Daniel Alcides Carrión Hospital in 2015 to all medical residents and interns of Medicine Hospital who agree to participate in the investigation and that their job tenure is Included more than two weeks. The information is handled and stored in a database created in the package spreadsheet Microsoft Excel 2010 and statistical analysis was performed and evaluated with Stata 14 statistical package. Results: The sample consisted of 39 medical residents and 81 medical interns who met the inclusion and exclusion shows. Association between the presence of burnout syndrome and depression with an OR: 83.06, IC 95%:24.81 – 278.04 y p<0.001, measured by logistic regression was found. Conclusions: The overall prevalence of burnout syndrome was 46.7% Burnout Syndrome develops depression in people suffering from this disease than in those without diabetes 83 times. Generally it shows that the burnout syndrome is a high risk factor statistically significant for developing depression. Keywords: Burnout syndrome, depression, medical resident, medical interns.

OBJETIVO: relacionar la presencia del Síndrome de Burnout y las características personales de los internos de obstetricia de la Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos de Lima durante el año 2015. METODOLOGÍA: estudio de tipo observacional con diseño descriptivo correlacional y de corte transversal, en el que se trabajó con 66 internos de obstetricia que cumplieron con los criterios de inclusión. En el análisis de los datos se tuvo en cuenta el cálculo de frecuencias (absolutas y relativas), medidas de tendencia central y de dispersión, así como el uso de una prueba no paramétrica de la Chi cuadrada, la cual se utilizó para estimar el grado de relación entre dos variables cualitativas, considerando como valores significativos a un p menor de 0.05. RESULTADOS: la prevalencia del Síndrome de Burnout fue de 10.6% en los internos de obstetricia. Al evaluar por dimensiones el síndrome de Burnout, el 48.5% alcanzó un nivel medio y el 30.3% un nivel bajo, para la dimensión cansancio; el 89.4% alcanzó un nivel bajo, y el 72.7% un nivel alto para la dimensión eficacia. De las características demográficas de los internos de obstetricia el 90.9% son de sexo femenino, el 91% vive con sus padres, el 4.5% tiene hijos, el 12.1% cuenta con alguna persona que le demanda dependencia económica y el 78.8% no tiene trabajo remunerado. En cuanto a las características académicas, el 57.6% ha desaprobado o tuvo algún problema durante la rotación de internado, el 93.9% tiene más de 10 horas en la sede hospitalaria, el 90.9% tiene menos de 6 horas de sueño en el internado, el 27.3% “regular”, el 48.5% de los internos pensó en retirarse de la carrera y el 60.6% pensó en cambiar de carrera. Se observa relación entre la persona con quien vive el interno y la presencia de este síndrome (p=0.005), además se evidencia que la relación con el equipo de salud está relacionado significativamente con la presencia de este síndrome (p=0.038). CONCLUSIÓN: el vivir con los familiares (p=0.005) y tener una relación regular con el equipo de salud (p=0.038) se relacionan significativamente con la presencia del Síndrome de Burnout. PALABRAS CLAVES: Síndrome de Burnout, características personales, internos de obstetricia. / --- OBJECTIVE: to relate the presence of burnout syndrome and personal characteristics of inmates of obstetrics of the National University of San Marcos in Lima during 2015. METHODOLOGY: observational study with descriptive correlational and crosssectional design, in which 66 inmates worked with obstetrics who met the inclusion criteria. In the analysis of the data was taken into account the calculation of frequencies (absolute and relative), measures of central tendency and dispersion, and the use of a nonparametric test Chi square, which was used to estimate the degree relationship between two qualitative variables, considering as significant values at p lower 0.05. RESULTS: the prevalence of burnout syndrome was 10.6% in internal obstetrics. When evaluating by dimensions Burnout syndrome, 48.5% got an average 30.3% level and a low level for tiredness dimension; 89.4% got a low level to the cynicism dimension, and 72.7% a high level for effective dimension. Of the demographic internal obstetric characteristics 90.9% are female, 91% live with their parents, 4.5% have children, 12.1% have someone who will demand economic dependence and 78.8% are unemployed paid. Regarding the academic characteristics, 57.6% have disproved or had any problems during the rotation of boarding school, 93.9% have more than 10 hours in the hospital headquarters, 90.9% have less than 6 hours of sleep at boarding school, the 27.3% "regular", 48.5% of the inmates thought of retiring from the race and 60.6% thought about changing careers. It was observed relationship between the person with whom the internal and the presence of this syndrome (p=0.005) was observed also is evidence that the relationship with the health team is significantly related to the presence of this syndrome (p=0.038). CONCLUSIONS: to live with relatives (p=0.005) and have a regular relationship with the health team (p=0.038) were significantly associated with the presence of burnout syndrome. KEYWORDS: Burnout syndrome, personal characteristics, internal obstetrics.

The purpose of this study was to determine the relationships among sensation seeking, burnout, injury, and job satisfaction among firefighters. Participants included 93 firefighters from a southeastern fire department. Each participant was asked to fill out a packet of self-report surveys including a demographic form, Sensation Seeking Scale Form V, Maslach Burnout Inventory, Job Satisfaction Survey, Absenteeism form, and an On-The-Job Injury form. This exploratory study provided an initial assessment of personality in relation to burnout and injuries in firefighters. The information from this study will hopefully help fire chiefs and administrators to better understand firefighters and the factors influencing their burnout, injuries, and job satisfaction. This information may, in turn, be useful in developing strategies to reduce burnout and better identify risk-factors affecting burnout and job performance in this population.

MA, Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand

Master of Arts - Psychology / A traumatic event is characterised by a situation that involves the actual or threatened death or injury to one’s self or others (Hesse, 2002). Figley (1999) described traumatic stress from another perspective in that individuals exposed to a traumatised person, may experience emotional upset and may become a victim, indirectly of the traumatic event. Secondary Traumatic Stress (STS) emerges suddenly and without warning. The sufferer of STS often experience feelings of confusion and helplessness. Compassion fatigue, an equivalent to STS first made appearance in studies of job burnout in the helping professions to describe a decline in compassionate feelings toward patients or clients in need. Compassion fatigue has since been widely used external to the occupational context, thus in the wider social community (Kinnick, Krugman & Cameron, 1996). In literature, a clear frame is presented by the Constructivist Self Development Theory and focuses on the multifaceted interaction between the ind ividual and the environment. According to this theory individuals construct their own realities. The self is the seat of the individual’s identity and inner life, which encompasses four interrelated aspects: selfesteem, ego resources, psychological needs and cognitive schemas. Traumatic experiences are encoded in the verbal and imagery systems of the memory. Adaptation to trauma reflects an interaction between life experiences and the self (McCann & Pearlman, 1990). Neurotic anxiety, Type A syndrome, locus of control, flexibility, and introversion as the five personality traits, guide an individual’s responses to stress (Cherniss, 1980). Not only personality traits, but also career goals and previous experiences may influence an individual’s suscep tibility to stress. In contrast, coping strategies are influenced by social support such as family involvement and friends, and the load of stress on the individual (Harel, B. Kahana and E. Kahana, 1993). Freud suggested that fixation on trauma is biolo gically based and posttraumatic stress disorder is associated with complex abnormalities in several biological systems (Van der Kolk and Saporta, 1993). When considering the complexity of our biological system combined with the complexity of the human psyche, trauma counselling is energy consuming on both the victim and the counsellor. An additional theory explored was the Psychoanalytical theory which focuses on the intrapsychic processes and infantile conflict (Brett, 1993). Three basic assumptions are the core of the psychoanalytic theory, according to Meyer, Moore and Viljoen (1997). These are: psychosocial conflict, biological and psychological determinants, and mechanistic assumption based on natural sciences and indicates that an individual functions like a mechanism with energy and the functions thereof. Considering the difference between compassion fatigue and burnout, numerous researchers indicate the importance of distinguishing between these concepts. Figley (1999), indicates burnout as a result of emotional exhaustion and specifies that it also has a gradual emergence, in contrast to compassion fatigue which emerge suddenly and is associated with feelings of hopelessness and confusion, although the recovery rate is faster than that of burnout. According to Maslach (1982), burnout is: a syndrome of emotional exhaustion, depersonalisation and reduced personal accomplishments. Burnout may also be a logic outcome of lower levels of autonomy, control over practice, collaborative working relationships, and organisational trust as indicated by Spence Laschinger, Shamian and Thomson (2001. According to Hesse (2002), organisations may introduce interventions to assist employees in combating symptoms of compassion fatigue and burnout, or the foreseeing event of these symptoms occurring. These are: reduction of the number of caseloads each trauma counsellor are responsible for and provision of supervision and group support programmes to assist employe es in rendering these effects. Furthermore, organisations should ensure adequate benefits, staff development opportunities, regular leave, informed consent as a standard organisational policy to inform new counsellors of the risks involved in trauma counselling and expressive staff meetings An unfavourable effect may be caused by suffering therapists to their organisations in that the quality and effectiveness of the organisation's work may be compromised. Therapists who do not address compassion fatigue and burnout are likely to experience more disruption of their empathic abilities, resulting in frequent incomplete therapies (Waldrop, 2003). The objective of this research is to determine the organisational responses towards compassion fatigue and burnout in trauma counsellors. A comparison between organisational responses across multiple organisations model will be made to explore the effects of the various responses. Furthermore, the study will investigate the influences of organisational responses on compassion fatigue and burnout considering the influences individual differences of the trauma counsellors may have. The need to establish the organisational responses towards compassion fatigue and burnout in any given organisation may assist researchers, employees and organisations alike to proactively intervene in such incidence. Not only is it ethical to intervene but potential problems concerning employees may also become legality. The Occupational Health and Safety Act is a legal guide provided for employees and employers alike. Concerning the research design, a quantitative approach was employed to reach the research objectives. The target population for this study included counsellors working with trauma survivors. No volunteer counsellors were used for the reason that different responses are associated with volunteer counsellors beyond the scope of this study. The sample comprised of 25 (n) trauma counsellors in total. The total sample of 25 counsellors participating in the study, 19 were female and five (5)were male, with one response missing. The method of data collection was by means of structured questionnaires, more specifically, compassion fatigue and burnout was measured through the Professional Quality of Life: Compassion Satisfaction and Fatigue Subscales – Revision III (ProQol – RIII) and the Organisational questionnaire which was constructed by the researcher. The reliability scores of the ProQol – RIII obtained by the researcher indicated the first subscale, compassion satisfaction .92, the burnout subscale with an alpha of .62 and lastly compassion fatigue subscale with an alpha of .66. All statistical analysis was obtained with the assistance of the SAS Programme (SAS Institute, 2000). Descriptive statistics were used to analyse the data of the different organisations (Kerlinger & Lee, 2000). Content analysis was used to describe each organisation and organisational responses to compassion fatigue and burnout. Profiles for each organisation were developed ant in that the relationship between organisational responses and possible compassion fatigue was examined. The most prominent results were the following: Unanimous responses to no provision of primary interventions such as change of line of authority (70%), restructuring of organisational units in order to prevent monotony (76%), establishment of reward systems (81%), and information regarding issues concerning the Occupational Health and Safety Act (81%). Agreement among respondents that organisations do not providing time management training (86%), conflict management training (86%), focus groups or support groups (80), and health promotional activities such as weight-watchers (75%) were reached. Unanimous agreement was also observed regarding organisations not providing in-house counselling or referrals were. All organisations have average to low compassion satisfaction scores and all organisations tend to have average to high compassion fatigue with burnout being lower for all organisations except Organisation 1 with a tendency of higher burnout. Due to not finding phenomenal significant relationship between the organisation profiles when addressing the predictive power of organisational responses, the predictive power when individual differences are accounted for, became irrelevant. Janik (1995), stipulates that employees in every domain are at risk of developing compassion fatigue. These include correctional officers, counsellors, psychologists, social workers, emergency response personnel, and medical staff. We as employees and employers must unite to assist each other in combating these phenomena.