Resilience to Compassion Fatigue in Empathic Healthcare Professionals
Zanna Smith (Susannah W. Smith)
Walden University · Doctor of Philosophy, General Psychology, Research and Evaluation · December 2012
Abstract
In 2002 Figley conducted a case study illustrating a problem that was originally observed in 1992 among nurses, compassion fatigue (CF). CF has since been extended to embrace all healthcare service providers, an employment sector that has been in recent decline. However, some health professionals seem resilient and do not develop CF. Therefore this study will explore aspects of lived or observed resiliency to CF among a population of healthcare providers to find the collective essence of healthcare professionals’ experience of resiliency to compassion fatigue. An approach based upon the qualitative methodologies of Moustakas and van Manen is proposed to investigate the phenomenon. Data will be gathered through in-depth, open-ended interviews of nine healthcare professionals. The transcribed interviews will be organized using NVivo 10 software before being analyzed. The implications for positive social change from the proposed research include the benefits of the healthcare professional’s personal health, as well as patient care, of more effective policies at the facility level for in-service CF training and intervention, and for the prospect of a rise of economic productivity in services at the community level.