The Compassion Fatigue and Resilience Connection: A Survey of Resilience, Compassion Fatigue, Burnout, and Compassion Satisfaction among Trauma Responders

Research has shown that compassion fatigue is associated with burnout and compassion satisfaction. Practically no studies have examined how resilience may impact these variables. This study examined how resilience is related to compassion fatigue, burnout, and compassion satisfaction among a convenience sample of disaster behavioral health and emergency preparedness responders (N =139) attending a training conference in Michigan. Measures included the 30-item Professional Quality of Life Scale, the 14-item Resilience Scale, and a demographic questionnaire. Seventy-two percent of the participants were at risk for compassion fatigue, while 19% were at risk for burnout. Only 22% of participants had scores indicative of high resilience. Resilience was found to have a significant negatively correlation with compassion fatigue and with burnout. A significant positive correlation was also found between compassion satisfaction and resilience. Mediation analysis found that resilience moderately mediated the relationship between compassion fatigue and burnout. These findings suggest that resilience plays an important role in mediating the effects between compassion fatigue and burnout. Implications for practice are discussed.