Compassion fatigue, compassion satisfaction and work engagement in residential child care

Due to the challenging nature of the setting, residential childcare staff are at risk of developing compassion fatigue, including burnout and secondary traumatic stress. There is also opportunity to experience compassion satisfaction from supporting young people in need. These concepts are under-res...

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Main Authors: Kerry Audin, Jolanta Burke, Itai Ivtzan
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: CELCIS 2018-09-01
Series:Scottish Journal of Residential Child Care
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author Kerry Audin
Jolanta Burke
Itai Ivtzan
author_facet Kerry Audin
Jolanta Burke
Itai Ivtzan
author_sort Kerry Audin
collection DOAJ
description Due to the challenging nature of the setting, residential childcare staff are at risk of developing compassion fatigue, including burnout and secondary traumatic stress. There is also opportunity to experience compassion satisfaction from supporting young people in need. These concepts are under-researched in residential childcare, as is work engagement; a sense of vigour, dedication and absorption at work which is beneficial for employees and organisations. This quantitative study investigated the relationship between compassion fatigue, compassion satisfaction and work engagement in staff working in independent residential childcare organisations in England, Scotland and Wales. The study used a within-participants design using correlational analyses, with a sample of 100 participants who completed a self-report questionnaire. Work engagement was positively correlated with compassion satisfaction and negatively correlated with the burnout aspect of compassion fatigue but not secondary traumatic stress. However, the absorption component of work engagement was positively associated with secondary traumatic stress, reflecting that burnout and secondary trauma are distinct aspects of compassion fatigue that relate differently with work engagement. It is recommended that residential childcare organisations be aware of, and implement support structures to prevent or minimise, both burnout and secondary traumatic stress in their employees.
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series Scottish Journal of Residential Child Care
spelling doaj-art-c827ea9ea7ec4e86852dbb02312ea5532025-08-20T02:48:53ZengCELCISScottish Journal of Residential Child Care2976-93532018-09-0117352710.17868/strath.00084658Compassion fatigue, compassion satisfaction and work engagement in residential child careKerry AudinJolanta BurkeItai IvtzanDue to the challenging nature of the setting, residential childcare staff are at risk of developing compassion fatigue, including burnout and secondary traumatic stress. There is also opportunity to experience compassion satisfaction from supporting young people in need. These concepts are under-researched in residential childcare, as is work engagement; a sense of vigour, dedication and absorption at work which is beneficial for employees and organisations. This quantitative study investigated the relationship between compassion fatigue, compassion satisfaction and work engagement in staff working in independent residential childcare organisations in England, Scotland and Wales. The study used a within-participants design using correlational analyses, with a sample of 100 participants who completed a self-report questionnaire. Work engagement was positively correlated with compassion satisfaction and negatively correlated with the burnout aspect of compassion fatigue but not secondary traumatic stress. However, the absorption component of work engagement was positively associated with secondary traumatic stress, reflecting that burnout and secondary trauma are distinct aspects of compassion fatigue that relate differently with work engagement. It is recommended that residential childcare organisations be aware of, and implement support structures to prevent or minimise, both burnout and secondary traumatic stress in their employees.residential childcarecompassion fatiguecompassion satisfactionwork engagement
spellingShingle Kerry Audin
Jolanta Burke
Itai Ivtzan
Compassion fatigue, compassion satisfaction and work engagement in residential child care
Scottish Journal of Residential Child Care
residential childcare
compassion fatigue
compassion satisfaction
work engagement
title Compassion fatigue, compassion satisfaction and work engagement in residential child care
title_full Compassion fatigue, compassion satisfaction and work engagement in residential child care
title_fullStr Compassion fatigue, compassion satisfaction and work engagement in residential child care
title_full_unstemmed Compassion fatigue, compassion satisfaction and work engagement in residential child care
title_short Compassion fatigue, compassion satisfaction and work engagement in residential child care
title_sort compassion fatigue compassion satisfaction and work engagement in residential child care
topic residential childcare
compassion fatigue
compassion satisfaction
work engagement
work_keys_str_mv AT kerryaudin compassionfatiguecompassionsatisfactionandworkengagementinresidentialchildcare
AT jolantaburke compassionfatiguecompassionsatisfactionandworkengagementinresidentialchildcare
AT itaiivtzan compassionfatiguecompassionsatisfactionandworkengagementinresidentialchildcare