Compassion Satisfaction Among Camp Counselors: A Pilot Study

Abstract

Background: The intense nature of the camp experience and the unique role of camp counselors can be a rewarding experience for camp counselors and campers alike. However, to experience compassion satisfaction necessitates evaluation of a number of factors that may enhance or decrease compassion satisfaction. Purpose: To better understand the camp counselor experience of compassion satisfaction, this study examined the factors of self-compassion, self-care activities, stress, values progress, values obstruction, and burnout on compassion satisfaction. Methodology/Approach: Data from 27 female camp counselors ( Mage = 20.33 years, 92.59% White/Caucasian, 85.18% undergraduate students) were collected 4 times over a 10-week period. A series of Bayesian linear regressions was conducted to examine the effect of these variables on compassion satisfaction. Findings/Conclusions: Compassion satisfaction was best explained by a combination of burnout ( M = −0.67, 95% credible interval [CRI] = –[0.88, −0.48]), self-care activities ( M = 0.38, 95% CRI = [0.10, 0.65]), and stress ( M = 0.14, 95% CRI = [0.01, 0.26]). Implications: Factors such as burnout, self-care activities, and stress contribute both negatively and positively on camp counselor compassion satisfaction. Suggestions for how to address each are addressed in addition to the importance of training interventions to enhance camp counselor compassion satisfaction.

Workplace Fatigue Within Summer Camp: Perspectives From Camp Health Care Providers and Directors

“…The study of fatigue in camp can also benefit from the increased interest in mental, emotional, and social health (MESH) of camp participants as well as employees (Owens & Faricy, 2018). One such study examined compassion fatigue in counselors by measuirng burnout, self-care activities, and stress (Stanfield & Baptist, 2019). Further research is needed to better understand whether, and if so how and to what extent, MESH support teams may be involved in fatigue management and response situations for campers and staff.…”

Merhamet Doyumu Ölçeği̇ni̇n Geli̇şti̇ri̇lmesi̇

“…Birçok araştırmada, merhamet doyumu ile merhamet yorgunluğunun birlikte incelenmiş (DePanfilis, 2006; Annalakshmi ve Jayanthy, 2019) ve merhamet doyumu ile merhamet yorgunluğu arasında negatif ve anlamlı bir korelasyon bulunduğu belirtilmiştir (Kim, Ha ve Jue, 2020;Jarrad ve Hammad, 2020). Ayrıca yapılan araştırmalarda merhamet doyumunun öz bakım (Alkema ve diğerleri, 2008), farkındalık (Decker, Brown, Ong ve Stiney-Ziskind, 2015;Martin-Cuellar, Atencio, Kelly ve Lardier, 2018), öz bakım aktiviteleri, değerlerin gelişmesi (Stainfield ve Baptist, 2019), duygusal uyumsuzluk (Kim, Ha ve Jue, 2020), tükenmişlik (Jarrad ve Hammad, 2020), olumlu duygular/düşünceler, stres yönetimi, zihinsel, sosyal ve fiziksel kaynaklar (Radey ve Figley, 2007) gibi pek çok faktörle ilişkili olduğu saptanmıştır.…”

Compassion as a Source of Satisfaction and Fear in Professionals Who Work With People

“…From this perspective, compassion satisfaction can be thought of as the opposite of both compassion fatigue (Coetzee & Klopper, 2010) and secondary traumatic stressors (Young et al, 2011). Research has shown that compassion satisfaction is related to many factors including self-care, mindfulness, the development of values, emotional maladjustment, burnout, positive emotions/thoughts, stress management and mental, social and physical resources (Alkema et al, 2008; Decker et al, 2015; Jarrad & Hammad, 2020; Kim et al, 2020; Martin-Cuellar et al, 2018; Radey & Figley, 2007; Stainfield & Baptist, 2019). Compassion satisfaction has been reported to be negatively correlated with negative personality traits such as Machiavellianism, narcissism and psychopathy (Papazoglou et al, 2019), and can improve people’s contributions to their professional fields and improve their human capacities.…”

“…Child-protection personnel with high compassion satisfaction have been reported as having low levels of compassion fatigue and burnout (Conrad & Kellar-Guenther, 2006), and specialized trauma therapists have been found to have higher compassion satisfaction than non-specialists (Sprang et al, 2007). Rossi et al (2012) found that community-based mental health personnel who personally suffered from psychological disorders had low levels of compassion satisfaction, while Stainfield and Baptist (2019) reported that the compassion satisfaction levels experienced by camp counsellors were best explained by a combination of burnout, stress and self-care activities. Among police officers, compassion satisfaction has been linked to staying in their profession, but importantly, this satisfaction was arrived at via a different process for each officer, which also changed over time (Milliard, 2020).…”