Compassion fatigue and psychological distress among social workers: A validation study.
Top Cited Papers
- 1 January 2006
- journal article
- research article
- Published by American Psychological Association (APA) in American Journal of Orthopsychiatry
- Vol. 76 (1), 103-108
- https://doi.org/10.1037/0002-9432.76.1.103
Abstract
Few studies have focused on caring professionals and their emotional exhaustion from working with traumatized clients, referred to as compassion fatigue (CF). The present study had 2 goals: (a) to assess the psychometric properties of a CF scale, and (b) to examine the scale's predictive validity in a multivariate model. The data came from a survey of social workers living in New York City following the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. Factor analyses indicated that the CF scale measured multiple dimensions. After overlapping items were eliminated, the scale measured 2 key underlying dimensions--secondary trauma and job burnout. In a multivariate model, these dimensions were related to psychological distress, even after other risk factors were controlled. The authors discuss the results in light of increasing the ability of professional caregivers to meet the emotional needs of their clients within a stressful environment without experiencing CF.Keywords
Funding Information
- National Institute of Mental Health (R01 MH66403)
- Florida State University
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