| Compassion fatigue is a consequence of the professional's empathy for patients who are in pain. Compassion fatigue is a state of being overwhelmed by caring about patients and is manifested by exhaustion, irritability, sleep disturbances, angry outbursts and disengagement from the painful events (Figley, 2002). The present study is based on an online survey of two hundred and twenty-two genetic counselors. The significant predictors of compassion fatigue in this study were: Burnout, Self-Criticism and Giving Up, the total number of types of distressing experiences with patients, the average number of patients seen per week, Religion, parental status and Seeking Support. This study proposes that burnout is a precursor to compassion fatigue and that burnout provides genetic counselors with fewer resources to prevent compassion fatigue. This study found that the highest scorers of compassion fatigue had more distressing experiences with patients; had higher scores on Burnout and lower scores on Compassion Satisfaction; used Self-Criticism and Giving Up to cope more frequently than low scorers of compassion fatigue. Ways in which the results lend support to Figley's Model of Compassion Stress/Fatigue are discussed along with teaching, practice and research recommendations. |
