Trauma, violence & abuse
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Trauma, violence & abuse · May 2015
Rethinking Compassion Fatigue Through the Lens of Professional Identity: The Case of Child-Protection Workers.
Compassion fatigue is currently the dominant model in work-related stress studies that explain the consequences of caring for others on child-protection workers. Based on a deterministic approach, this model excludes the role of cognition a priori and a posteriori in the understanding of the impact of caregiving or providing social support. By integrating the notion of professional identity, this article adds a subjective perspective to the compassion fatigue model allowing for the consideration of positive outcomes and takes into account the influence of stress caused by accountability. ⋯ It is influenced by meanings given to the situation. Furthermore, professional identity modulates the impact of compassion fatigue on psychological well-being. Practice, policy, and research implications in light of these findings are also discussed.