No abstract

Frontline mental health care professionals (FMHPs) in a variety of roles such as nursing, social work, psychology, psychiatry, case managers and mental health workers are often required to provide a high degree of care to clients over time which can result in physical and psychological complaints often referred to as compassion fatigue (CF). The aim of this nonexperimental, cross sectional study was to determine the relationships among compassion satisfaction (CS), compassion fatigue (CF), work life conditions and burnout among FMHPs. The Professional Quality of Life Revision IV (ProQOL), the Areas of Work Life Survey, Maslach Burnout Inventory-General Survey and a Demographic Data sheet were completed by 169 FMHPs. Consistent with our hypothesis, higher levels of compassion satisfaction, lower levels of compassion fatigue, and higher overall degree of fit in the six areas of work life were predictive of lower burnout in FMHPs.

No abstract

Situational stressors and anxiety impede performance on creativity tests requiring cognitive flexibility. Preliminary research revealed better performance on a task requiring cognitive flexibility, the anagram task, after propranolol (beta-adrenergic antagonist) than after ephedrine (beta-adrenergic agonist). However, propranolol and ephedrine have both peripheral and central beta-adrenergic effects. In order to determine whether noradrenergic modulation of cognitive flexibility is a centrally or peripherally mediated phenomenon, we compared the effects of propranolol (peripheral and central beta-blocker), nadolol (peripheral beta-blocker), and placebo on anagram task performance. Solution latency scores for each subject were compared across the drug conditions. Anagram solution latency scores after propranolol were significantly lower than after nadolol. This suggests a centrally mediated modulatory influence of the noradrenergic system on cognitive flexibility.