Reducing the "cost of caring" in cancer care: Evaluation of a pilot interprofessional compassion fatigue resiliency programme

Compassion fatigue (CF) is a combination of secondary traumatic stress and burnout. Empathy becomes depleted among professional caregivers due to repeated exposure to emotional pain. Negative effects include decreased general wellbeing, impaired caregiver health and diminished team functioning. Inte...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of interprofessional care 2017-07, Vol.31 (4), p.512-519
Main Authors: Pfaff, Kathryn A., Freeman-Gibb, Laurie, Patrick, Linda J., DiBiase, Rita, Moretti, Olivia
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Aged
Burnout
Burnout, Professional - prevention & control
Cancer
Cancer Care Facilities
Caregiver burden
Caregivers
Compassion
Compassion fatigue
Compassion Fatigue - prevention & control
Data
Empathy
evaluation research
Fatigue
Female
Health Personnel - education
Humans
Interdisciplinary aspects
interprofessional learning
Interprofessional Relations
Intervention
Job Satisfaction
Long term
Male
Middle Aged
Mindfulness
mixed methods
Mixed methods research
Neoplasms - psychology
Occupational stress
oncology
Pain
Pilot Projects
Quality of Life
Resilience
Resilience, Psychological
Self care
Sympathy
Teamwork
Traumatic stress
Vicarious trauma
Well being
Workplace - psychology
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Summary:Compassion fatigue (CF) is a combination of secondary traumatic stress and burnout. Empathy becomes depleted among professional caregivers due to repeated exposure to emotional pain. Negative effects include decreased general wellbeing, impaired caregiver health and diminished team functioning. Intervention is needed to support caregiver quality of life and team relationships in high-stress work environments. This pilot study evaluated the impact of a pilot CF resiliency (CFR) programme on interprofessional staff at a regional cancer centre. An embedded experimental mixed-methods design was employed to evaluate a 6-week formalised CFR intervention. We measured CF satisfaction, burnout, clinical stress and silencing responses pre- and post-intervention. Focus group and individual interviews were conducted mid-programme and at end-programme completion to understand participants' views about how the programme affected their experiences of CF. Qualitative and quantitative data were analysed separately and merged to produce the overall findings. Participants reported reduced clinical stress at programme completion (t = 3.5; p = .005). This finding may be explained by participants' ability to identify signs and symptoms of CF and engage in self-care and mindfulness activities. Further larger studies are needed to evaluate the long-term effects of CFR programmes on caregiver and organisational wellbeing.
ISSN:1356-1820
1469-9567
DOI:10.1080/13561820.2017.1309364