This study investigates the “the cost of caring” (Figley, 1995) for educators who teach and work with traumatized children; that is children who live in challenging social environments with ongoing stressors, such as family physical abuse, sexual assault, neglect, community violence, bereavement and loss issues, parental mental health and substance abuse, and homelessness. This study examines the theoretical framework of Secondary Traumatic Stress (STS). The phenomenon of STS has been investigated in depth for professionals, such as social workers, counselors/therapists, hotline/crisis workers, law enforcement officers, nurses, emergency medical technicians/paramedics, firefighters, and disaster relief workers (Bride et al, 2007). This study explores how teachers address the emotional stressors of teaching traumatized children, the impact of their work on them both personally and professionally, if teachers are able to incorporate self-care strategies, and explores the applicability of STS to elementary educators

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The current study examined the role of coping self-efficacy (belief in one’s ability to effectively manage and cope with stressors), secondary traumatic stress (emotional duress that one may experience when exposed to the traumatic experiences of others), and compassion satisfaction (positive feelings or fulfillment one may experience in helping others) in the influencing the level of burnout (state of prolonged emotional, physical, and mental exhaustion) experienced among a sample of cultural brokers who work with refugees in educational settings. The study aimed to examine how secondary traumatic stress and compassion satisfaction mediated the relationship between coping self-efficacy and burnout. Furthermore, the study investigated the reliability and factor structures of the Professional Quality of Life Scale, Version 5 (ProQOL 5, Stamm, 2010), the Copenhagen Burnout Inventory (CBI, Kristensen et al., 2005), and the Coping Self-Efficacy Scale (CSES, Chesney et al., 2006). Data was collected nationwide from 260 cultural brokers who work with refugees in an educational setting through an online survey conducted in Fall 2023. Analyses conducted in this study supported the reliability of the ProQOL 5, CBI, and CSES. Additionally, path models were employed to explore the relationships between coping self-efficacy, secondary traumatic stress, compassion satisfaction, and burnout. A modified model, which removed two problematic items in the ProQOL 5 and one problematic item in the CBI, demonstrated an acceptable model fit through confirmatory factor analysis. These findings supported the use of the CSES, ProQOL 5, and CBI, highlighting their utility in capturing the constructs of burnout, secondary traumatic stress, compassion satisfaction, and perceived coping self-efficacy. Analyses demonstrated statistically significant direct effects between the domains of the ProQOL 5 (secondary traumatic stress and compassion satisfaction) and burnout. However, analyses did not yield significant direct and indirect effects between the CSES domains and burnout, which may suggest that perceived coping self-efficacy is not straightforwardly predictive of burnout levels among cultural brokers. These findings suggest that fostering compassion satisfaction, which in turn may increase job fulfillment, can be a crucial strategy or intervention in addressing or preventing burnout symptoms. Additionally, these findings suggest that understanding the relationship between secondary traumatic stress and burnout may be critical in addressing burnout symptoms and utilizing targeted interventions (e.g., trauma-informed training) to mitigate the effects of burnout among cultural brokers. Implications and future directions are discussed. / Psychological Studies in Education

The purpose of this study is twofold: (1) to examine the prevalence of compassion fatigue and secondary traumatic stress within school-based mental health designees and (2) to examine certain demographic factors of mental health designees with relation to secondary traumatic stress, compassion fatigue, and burnout. This non-experimental, quantitative, and descriptive study with a correlational survey design will be conducted through the electronic administration of the Professional Quality of Life (ProQOL) survey and additional demographic questions. This scientifically research-based instrument includes subscales to measure these variables and an additional, optional open-ended question to provide information on the positive and negative impacts of working in the helping profession on a school campus (ProQOL, 2019). The findings indicate moderate levels of compassion satisfaction, burnout, and secondary traumatic stress found in school-based mental health professionals and no significant differences between school levels, certificate types, and years of experience. Improving the recognition of compassion fatigue and secondary traumatic stress amongst mental health designees may prevent burnout and improve the retention of highly qualified professionals.

This study features an examination of the effects of working with traumatised individuals, namely vicarious traumatisation. Predictor variables such as age, career longevity, personal trauma history and workload were correlated with vicarious trauma. Support systems used by nurses were explored. The questionnaire consisted of items of the TSI Belief Scale, demographic characteristics of persons with a personal trauma history, work related aspects and support systems. Participants were 37 nurses (30 female and 7 male) who render a community mental health service in the Cape Metropole. Results of the study indicate that the variables age and career longevity were statistically significantly related to vicarious trauma. There was no relationship between personal trauma history, workload and vicarious trauma. The nurses identified the psychiatrist and psychologist as their main support systems in dealing with vicarious trauma. Recommendations were made to assist the organisation and nurses on how to deal with vicarious trauma. / Health Studies / M.A. (Health Studies)

This study features an examination of the effects of working with traumatised individuals, namely vicarious traumatisation. Predictor variables such as age, career longevity, personal trauma history and workload were correlated with vicarious trauma. Support systems used by nurses were explored. The questionnaire consisted of items of the TSI Belief Scale, demographic characteristics of persons with a personal trauma history, work related aspects and support systems. Participants were 37 nurses (30 female and 7 male) who render a community mental health service in the Cape Metropole. Results of the study indicate that the variables age and career longevity were statistically significantly related to vicarious trauma. There was no relationship between personal trauma history, workload and vicarious trauma. The nurses identified the psychiatrist and psychologist as their main support systems in dealing with vicarious trauma. Recommendations were made to assist the organisation and nurses on how to deal with vicarious trauma. / Health Studies / M.A. (Health Studies)

Bakgrund:  Compassion fatigue hos sjuksköterskor beskrivs som en minskad förmåga att känna empati till följd av att ha levt sig in i andra människors trauman, samtidigt ses empati som en av kärnorna i omvårdnaden. Många sjuksköterskor saknar kunskap i ämnet men drabbade sjuksköterskor beskriver det som en överväldigande känsla av att något är fel. Detta kan leda till att många sjuksköterskor funderar på att lämna yrket. Syfte: Syftet var att kartlägga faktorer till uppkomsten av compassion fatigue hos sjuksköterskor. Metod: En litteraturöversikt enligt Fribergs metod som baserades på elva kvantitativa och en kvalitativ artikel. Resultat: Resultatet presenterades utifrån fyra teman: empati, skuldkänslor och moralisk stress, personliga och sociala faktorer, arbetsrelaterade och organisatoriska faktorer samt ålder, arbetslivserfarenhet och professionalism. Några faktorer som orsakar compassion fatigue var hög grad av empatisk förmåga och hanteringsstrategier. Diskussion: Watsons teori om mänsklig omsorg och Conti O´Hares theory of the nurse as a wounded healer användes som teoretiska referensramar. Watson beskriver empati som en av kärnorna i hennes teori. Samtidigt som litteraturöversiktens resultat visade att högre grad av empati hos sjuksköterskan ger större risk att drabbas av compassion fatigue. Detta kan ses som motsägelsefullt då empati är en förutsättning för god omsorg. Conti O´Hares teori och resultatet stämmer överens i det avseende att om trauman hanteras på ett negativt sätt leder det till ohälsa. / Background: Compassion fatigue among nurses is described as a reduced ability to feel empathy due to being exposed to other peoples trauma, at the same time empathy is seen as one of the core values in nursing. Many nurses lack knowledge about the subject but affected nurses describes it as an overwhelmingly feeling that something is wrong. This may lead to a lot of nurses thinking about leaving the profession. Aim: The purpose was to identify the factors that lead to compassion fatigue in nurses. Method: A literature review according to Friberg´s method that is based on eleven quantitative articles and one qualitative article. Results: The results were presented on the basis of four themes: empathy, feelings of guilt and morol distress, personal and social factors, work related and organizational factors and also age, work experience and professionalism. Some of the factors that cause compassion fatigue were degree of empathetic ability and personal coping strategies. Discussion: Watson´s theory of human caring and Conti O´Hare´s theory of the nurse as a wounded healer was used as theoretical frame of reference. Watson describes empathy as one of the core values in her theory of human caring, at the same time the results of the literature review showed that nurses with a higher degree of empathy were at higher risk to develop compassion fatigue. This can be seen as contradictory when empathy is a condition in caring. Conti O´Hare´s theory and the result agree in the regard that if trauma is not handled in a positive way it may lead to illness.