Volunteers may be exposed to the negative consequences of dealing with human suffering, such as compassion fatigue. However, very little is known about the protective factors that contribute to their resilience. The aim of this study was to analyze the extent to which different strengths (psychological endurance, purpose, and social support), orientations to happiness, and compassion satisfaction predict volunteers’ resilient outcomes (subjective well-being and post-traumatic growth) and compassion fatigue. Participants were 116 Spanish Red Cross volunteers (77.8% women). They were separately classified into three groups (low, medium, and high) according to the 33rd and 66th percentile scores on each resilient outcome. Univariate analyses of variance and post-hoc comparisons computed separately showed significant differences in most factors analyzed, except compassion fatigue. Logistic regressions revealed that endurance, organization support, and eudaimonia allowed for the correct classification of 83.3% of those high in post-traumatic growth (82.2% of the true-positives and 84.4% of the true-negatives). In addition to endurance and organization support, purpose was the strongest predictor of well-being (85.7% were correctly classified, 82.8% of the true-negatives and 88.2% of the true-positives). Finally, lower endurance predicted compassion fatigue (65.7% and 61.3% of the true-negatives and 69.4% of the true-positives). Findings indicate ways to promote resilience among volunteers.

Comparative educational studies allow the study of the differences and similarities between different educational systems. This research, which consists on an educational evaluation, has studied the teaching behavior of ten university lecturers from a Spanish university-the University of La Laguna-, and seven from a Mexican university-University of Guadalajara-, laying the foundation in the Teaching Functions Model. It has been made through the observational methodology and by registering their real conduct while teaching. The observational instrument, PROFUNDO_Uni, v3, was adapted for its implementation in both universities. Before developing the coding of the behaviors, we trained ten Spanish lecturers and eight from Mexico. Data was analyzed using the sequential lag analysis. The displayed results show a great similarity between the behavioral patterns developed by both groups of lecturers with their students.

The quality of university teaching is a very important aspect for the educational process. This aspect makes necessary the evaluation of teaching professionals, being of special relevance the teaching behavior in the classroom. Observational methodology is the one used for evaluation, because it allows the study of usual behavior patterns and teaching strategies. We have used the instrument PROFUNDO-UNI, which is based on the "Teaching Functions Model", to analyze the behaviors of the university teachers and professors in the class. The objective of this study is the detailed analysis of one of the teaching functions described in this instrument. This function is the professor's explanation. It is a function of particular relevance in the educational setting, so it is very important to analyze it. For that, an instrument named Observational Protocol of the Explanation Function (OBEF) was created based on contributions of Educational Psychology. It allows the measurement of the resources and strategies used during the explanation. In this investigation, the psychometric goodness of fit has been tested through the analysis of reliability and homogeneity. Later, the behavior of a teacher from the University of La Laguna has been analyzed by using the instrument that was created.

Volunteers have played an important role by supporting essential services that have been overwhelmed during the most critical moments of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. Hence, nonprofit organizations may be interested in preventing negative consequences of these volunteers’ exposure to potentially traumatic events. The aim of this cross-sectional study was twofold. First, to examine to what extent self-compassion and self-determination would contribute to differentiating between volunteers with different levels of compassion fatigue, compassion satisfaction, and post-traumatic growth. Second, to identify the best predictors of the most extreme levels of each outcome. Participants were 211 Spanish Red Cross volunteers (60.7% women), who completed a survey. They were separately classified into three groups (low, medium, and high) according to the 33rd and 66th percentile scores on each outcome (compassion fatigue, compassion satisfaction, and post-traumatic growth). Univariate analyses of variance and post-hoc comparisons revealed that self-compassion and self-determination contributed differently to distinguishing between levels of each outcome. Volunteers lowest in compassion fatigue stood out for showing fewer non-compassionate strategies and more mindfulness than the other groups. Moreover, those higher in satisfaction compassion also showed lower use of unhealthy strategies and higher scores in all other predictive variables. Volunteers highest in post-traumatic growth showed higher self-kindness and satisfaction of all psychological needs. Binary logistic regressions allowed for the identification of predictors of belonging to the most extreme groups. The protective factors may be useful to guide volunteers’ self-care and help them thrive in the face of critical service demands.