Intrapsychic predictors of professional quality of life: Mindfulness, empathy, and emotional separation

Abstract

Purpose: Previous studies of compassion fatigue and burnout have provided important information about professional and workplace variables which might influence risk. However, little attention has been given to intrapsychic factors which might reduce risk, and/or increase resilience and work satisfaction among helping professionals, despite evidence which suggests 1) that empathy, though important for effective therapeutic relationships, may expose the clinician to greater risk of vicarious trauma (Figley 2002; Goleman, 2006), and that 2) the intentional management of attention and perspective, when confronted with the pain of others, influences empathy, personal distress, and prosocial behavior (Decety & Lamm, 2006). This study examines intrapsychic factors which may influence susceptibility to compassion fatigue and burnout, and potential for compassion satisfaction, including empathy, emotional separation, and mindfulness.

Method: In this cross-sectional exploratory correlation study, the researcher mailed anonymous surveys consisting of demographic information and four established scales to a random sample of 400 of the 1636 licensed clinical social workers in Kentucky, resulting in 171 usable surveys. Compassion fatigue, burnout, and compassion satisfaction, all subscales of the Professional Quality of Life Scale, are the dependent variables. Mindfulness (measured with the 5-Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire), empathy, (measured using the subscales of the Davis Interpersonal Reactivity Index) and emotional separation (measured with the Maintenance of Emotional Separation Scale) are the predictor variables. In addition, age, gender, years experience, and adult and child trauma histories are included as controls. After examining bivariate relationships, the researcher completed hierarchical multiple regression analyses for each of the dependent variables.

Results: The results indicate that higher emotional separation scores strongly prediced lowered risk for compassion fatigue and burnout (p < .001), and somewhat higher potential for compassion satisfaction (p < .05). Mindfulness was the strongest predictor of compassion satisfaction (p < .001), and also contributed significantly to the variance in burnout scores (p < .01). Despite significant bivariate correlation, the empathy subscales faded out as predictors of compassion fatigue and burnout in the regression analyses when emotional separation and mindfulness were controlled, though the empathic concern and personal distress empathy subscales retained some power in explaining variance in compassion satisfaction. The predictor variables alone explained 29-37% of the variance in the three dependent variables (Compassion Fatigue, R2 change with addition of predictor variables =.349; Burnout, R2 change with predictor variables = .369; Compassion Satisfaction, R2 change with predictor variables =.293.)

Conclusions and Implications: This study contributes to the growing body of literature examining variables which might influence professional quality of life among social workers. Given the alarming rates of compassion fatigue and burnout, and the low retention rates among human service professionals, research which suggests ways that clinicians might be better protected from the negative effects of their work, or might experience enhanced satisfaction from their work, has important implications. It may be that increased emphasis on the intentional management of internal emotional states is as important for clinicians as it is for our clients, and that professional training programs have a responsibility to investigate how best to teach such skills.