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Climate change has impact that are far reaching and contribute to increased disasters and the subsequent chronic stressors, especially for first responders including the emergency and healthcare workforce. As the number and magnitude of disasters increase, so does the burden on communities in constant recovery mode. Subsequently we are faced with an international crisis and the great resignation of employees in both the healthcare and first responder industries. While the constructs of burnout and compassion fatigue have received attention in the scholarly literature; there is limited knowledge about how to increase compassion fatigue resilience despite chronic stress. Those professionals who perform critical and often dangerous and exhausting work daily are particularly at risk for burnout, compassion fatigue and decreased overall wellbeing. We hypothesize that disaster experiences and community disruptions contribute to compassion fatigue and related mental health problems among the healthcare and emergency personnel workforces. We also explored unique factors that contribute to compassion fatigue resilience.
Methods
Online surveys were launched in 2021 and 105 healthcare personnel and first responders completed the questionnaire. The sample was 48% equally male and female and predominately identified as White (82%). Thirty-five percent of participants were paramedics or emergency medical technicians, 19% were firefighters, and 39% were mental health professionals. Participants completed a series of online questionnaires including measures of anxiety, resilience, adjustment and stressor events, and compassion fatigue. Open ended questions were also coded and themed consistent with qualitative methods.
Results
Responders who reported increased anxiety and personal impacts were associated with compassion fatigue. Females had higher anxiety scores and reported more community disruption. Younger respondents, individuals who worked more hours than their usual schedule, and community-level concerns were significant predictors of compassion fatigue. Major themes identified from open ended response regarding compassion fatigue resilience included: adaptive coping skills, professional impact and commitment.
Conclusions and implications
Emergency personnel are uniquely impacted by increased disaster due to climate change and face increased risk of mental health problems and compassion fatigue. Our findings are particularly relevant in areas consistently exposed to disasters, as coping skills may be diminished, and problems exacerbated during future response. 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 resiliency training.