Burnout, compassion fatigue, and compassion satisfaction among staff in community-based mental health services

Abstract

Providing care to individuals with complex mental health needs can be stressful. However, little research has focused on the emotional, cognitive, and physical consequences of providing mental health care. The aim of this study is to assess burnout (BO), compassion fatigue (CF) and compassion satisfaction (CS) among staff at the four community-based mental health services (CMHS) of Verona, Italy. All staff were asked to complete anonymously the Professional Quality of Life Scale, the General Health Questionnaire, and a socio-demographic questionnaire. In total 260 staff participated (a response rate of 84%). Psychiatrists and social workers were the professionals with the highest levels of BO and CF. Workers with psychological distress reported both higher BO and CF scores, and lower levels of CS. A significant increase in the BO and CF scores was also detected for each extra year spent working in a CMHS. A higher level of CF was associated with female and having been experienced one negative life event in the previous year. These findings are useful for health managers and team leaders to identify factors affecting the professional quality of life of mental healthcare staff, and can provide a rationale for detecting staff at risk for developing negative work-related outcomes.

The Relations between Violence Exposure, Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms, Secondary Traumatization, Vicarious Post Traumatic Growth and Illness Attribution among Psychiatric Nurses

“…Such a reality has been linked to greater burn-out of staff, clinical judgment errors and dissatisfaction of both nurses and patients (Rossi et al, 2012). Furthermore, our results point to the possible relationship between the way a psychiatric nurse understands the etiology of mental illness and her own emotional condition.…”

“…The exposure to patients' violence is frequently accompanied by feelings of uncertainty and inability to predict the patients' behavior (Partridge, Martin, Harari, & Dhesi, 2013). These stress-residues might contribute to job dissatisfaction and burn-out among nurses (Rossi et al, 2012).…”

Effects of dialectical behavior therapy skills training on outcomes for mental health staff in a child and adolescent residential setting

“…This is unlikely, however, as prior research has found that burnout significantly increases and compassion for patients significantly decreases with greater time spent working in a psychiatric facility. [23] Further, it was not possible to collect direct patient outcomes for this study, though anecdotal evidence suggests that staff training in DBT skill coaching techniques resulted in fewer unit shutdown and seclusion and restraint procedures. Finally, the study was conducted specifically in a child and adolescent residential facility.…”

Associations between therapists' occupational burnout and their patients' depression and anxiety treatment outcomes

“…Secondary traumatic stress symptoms are similar to those of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) (Figley, 1995), whereas vicarious trauma primarily involves cognitive changes related to processing disturbing accounts of clients' traumatic experiences (Sabin-Farrell & Turpin, 2003). Compassion fatigue has been identified as a commonly occurring reaction in mental health professionals (Ray, Wong, White, & Heaslip, 2013;Rossi et al, 2012). Compassion fatigue has been identified as a commonly occurring reaction in mental health professionals (Ray, Wong, White, & Heaslip, 2013;Rossi et al, 2012).…”