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The child welfare system is built upon the compassion of its workforce for children. However, the impact of compassion for the workforce can be overlooked. Research has found organizational conditions can exacerbate compassion fatigue and attenuate compassion satisfaction. Organizational Compassion Practices (OCP) is an evidence-based practice in overcoming these work-related compassion risks. Besides improving the bottom-line, organizational compassion practices (OCP) are found to improve the physical and mental health outcomes of its workforce, including reducing anxiety and depression and increasing job satisfaction (Nolan et al., 2022). Thus, in a system fueled by the compassion of its workforce, OCP may be critical, not only for individual workers, but for the health of child welfare. This study has three research questions: (1) How does OCP impact perceptions of compassion climate?, (2) Does compassion climate predict compassion satisfaction and fatigue? and (3) Do OCP mediate the relationship between compassion climate and work-related compassion satisfaction and fatigue?
Methods:
Data were collected in 2023 via a statewide online survey of child welfare professionals in a Midwestern state (N=247). Participants completed 9 items about OCP (i.e., acknowledging, play, and helping) on a 5-point Likert scale from Never to Always. Participants also completed the professional quality of life (proQOL) scales, which measure work-related compassion satisfaction and compassion fatigue, namely burnout and secondary traumatic stress (STS). We conducted multivariate regressions to test associations between OCP and compassion climate, satisfaction, and fatigue. In all models, we controlled for worker’s race, frequency of self-care activities, gender, years’ experience, 4-year degree status, and role of frontline staff or supervisor.
Results:
Our first analysis showed organizational practices of acknowledgement (b=.43; p<.001), play (b=.14; p<.01) and helping (b=.11; p<.05) were positively associated with perceived compassion climate (CC). Our second analysis showed CC was statistically significant and positively related to compassion satisfaction (b=.14; p<.05) and negatively related to burnout (b=-.12; p<.05). However, the relationship between CC and STS was not significant (b=-.10; p>.05). When including OCP in the model, our final analysis revealed, CC was no longer significantly related to compassion satisfaction, while acknowledgement (b=.15; p<.05) and helping (b=.14; p<.05) predicted compassion satisfaction. The relationship between CC and burnout is inversed (b=.17; p<.05) when including OCP measures and helping predicted lower levels of burnout (b=-.19; p<.01). CC and OCP were not significantly associated with STS.
Conclusions and Implications:
These findings demonstrate how organizational compassion practices (OCP) benefit child welfare professionals. We found OCP mitigates burnout and increases compassion satisfaction and perceived compassion climate (CC). We also found CC reduces burnout and increases compassion satisfaction when we do not account for OCP. This highlights the importance of organizational practices, not individual-level perceptions, as strategies to improve workforce outcomes. Furthermore, we did not find evidence of OCP or CC impact on secondary traumatic stress (STS). More research should be done to identify organizational strategies to reduce STS. In sum, our research underscores the importance of organizational practices and identifies agency-level strategies that can be adopted to benefit the child welfare system workforce.