Publication Date

Summer 2018

Advisor(s) - Committee Chair

Frederick G. Grieve (Director), Pitt Derryberry, Cheryl Wolf, Daniel McBride

Degree Program

Doctor of Psychology in Applied Psychology

Degree Type

Doctor of Psychology

Abstract

The present study was designed to explore the role of an agency/supervisor to increase self-care participation among suicide prevention crisis hotline staff. The impact self-care participation was found to increase compassion satisfaction while decreasing both burnout and secondary traumatic stress in this population of helpers. Self-care is meant to be a preventative measure to help increase an individual’s overall well-being and can also impact job satisfaction. As helpers, self-care is often recommended to those individuals with whom they are working; however, helpers have historically not followed their own recommendations. Research has shown that those helpers with higher levels of compassion satisfaction are able to identify the positive aspects of helping and combat the negative aspects, such as burnout and secondary traumatic stress.

This study had three hypotheses. The first hypothesis was that those agencies that embedded self-care into their training, supervision, and daily operations would have staff with higher levels of self-care participation. The second hypothesis was that those staff with higher levels of compassion satisfaction would have lower levels of burnout and secondary traumatic stress. The third hypothesis was that those staff who had higher frequencies of self-care engagement would have higher scores of compassion satisfaction.

One hundred and sixty-two participants completed a demographics survey, the Professional Quality of Life Scale (PROQOL), the Self-Care Awareness Worksheet, and the Self-Care Questionnaire. A correlation and a simple regression equation were completed for each hypothesis. Results indicated that self-care embedment significantly predicted engagement in self-care participation. It was also found that higher scores of compassion satisfaction resulted in lower scores of both burnout and secondary traumatic stress. It was also found that a higher frequency of self-care participation resulted in higher scores of compassion satisfaction.

The results of this study imply that supervisors and agencies can impact the amount of self-care their staff participate in, potentially resulting in staff who have higher levels of compassion satisfaction and lower levels of burnout or secondary traumatic stress.

Disciplines

Clinical Psychology | Counseling Psychology | Psychology

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