Abstract: First Responders in COVID-19: The Impact of Compassion Fatigue (Society for Social Work and Research 26th Annual Conference - Social Work Science for Racial, Social, and Political Justice)

Schedule:

Thursday, January 13, 2022

Liberty Ballroom K, ML 4 (Marriott Marquis Washington, DC)

* noted as presenting author

Tonya Hansel, PhD, MSW, Associate Professor, Tulane University, LA

Leia Saltzman, PhD, Assistant Professor, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA

Temcula Robinson, MSW, Doctoral Student, Tulane University

Charles Figley, PhD, Professor, Tulane University, LA

Background and Purpose

COVID-19 has impacted communities across the globe infecting millions of people, highlighting disparities in health care, and straining first responder systems. While negative mental health outcomes for individuals infected with COVID-19, their family members, and the general public have received attention in the scholarly literature; few studies have explored the impact of COVID-19 on first responders. Those that have, focus on deleterious mental health effects indicating higher levels of anxiety, depression, and posttraumatic stress. The current study focuses more specifically on compassion fatigue recognizing the unique burden of first responders in the context of COVID-19. We hypothesize that COVID-19 experiences and disruptions contribute to compassion fatigue and other mental health problems among first responders.

Methods

An online survey was launched between May and December of 2020. Seventy-four first responders completed the survey. The sample was primarily male (n =46, 62.2%) and identified as White (n = 63, 86.3%). Fifty percent (n = 37) of participants identified as paramedics or emergency medical technicians, 27% (n =20) as firefighters, and 13.5%(n= 10) as mental health professionals. Participants completed a series of online questionnaires including measures of anxiety, depression, quality of life, COVID disruption and experiences, and compassion fatigue. Analysis was conducted in SPSS version 27.0 and included bivariate analysis and multiple regression.

Results

Individuals who identified as female had greater levels of self-reported mental health problems (b = 1.18, p<0.05) quality of life (b = -0.35, p<0.001), disruption caused by COVID (b = 0.27, p<0.05), and previous mental health problems (b = 1.37, p <0.05) also predicted current mental health problems. Younger respondents (b = -0.21, p<0.01), individuals who worked more hours than their usual scheduled (b = 4.59, p<0.01), quality-of-life (b = -0.63, p<0.01), and community health concerns (b = 4.74, p <0.01) were significant predictors of compassion fatigue.

Conclusions and implications

First responders are uniquely impacted by COVID-19 and face increased risk of mental health problems and compassion fatigue as a result of their service. In conjunction with other behavioral and mental health service roll outs during COVID-19, specific services focusing on compassion fatigue resilience should be considered for first responders. Specifically, those that are mindful of first responders working too many hours, quality of life and concern about the addressing community health. While the current study is limited in that our sample size is small and is primarily White and male, our findings begin the conversation about the unique needs of first responders by highlighting risk within this population for compassion fatigue in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. By highlighting risk among these critically important professionals we emphasize and offer a plan for the health, mental health, and protection of these professionals that include compassion fatigue.