Burnout, Compassion Fatigue, and the Utilization of Evidence-Based Practices by Mental Health Professionals

Abstract

Burnout is a construct first proposed by Freudenberger to describe a condition that develops in people who work with people such as teachers, nurses and first responders (Shan, 2005). Professionals who are burned out demonstrate a lack of concern for the people they service and often perform poorly on the job. In recent years, the construct of Burnout has been largely replaced by the construct of Compassion Fatigue. Interestingly, mental health professionals who work with children as their predominant client base have not been extensively studied, although these professionals arguably could be experiencing some of the highest levels of Compassion Fatigue (Eastwood, 2008). Research shows that Burnout and Compassion Fatigue impact the work that an individual performs, but the impact of these on the use of particular therapeutic practices as an area is less studied. The present study sought to determine if there is a relationship between Burnout, Compassion Fatigue, and the use of evidence-based practices in mental health professionals. Using research by Craig and Sprang (2010) as the starting point, this study also investigated whether mental health professionals who work with children experience more or less Burnout and Compassion Fatigue than those who work with adults. Mental health professionals from a variety of mental health facilities in the Philadelphia region served as subjects in this study. Participants were given the Trauma Practices Questionnaire (TPQ), a 22-item treatment practices utilization scale, the Professional Quality of Life Scale-V (PRoQOL-V), a 30-item scale that required respondents to assess their thoughts and feelings in relation to their work, and a questionnaire formulated by this investigator that included demographic information, background information, as well a question that focused on the age of the mental health professional's client base and a question that focused on years of professional experience. The results showed that the mental health professionals who worked with adults were older, more typically white, had higher levels of education and had undergraduate majors that were in psychology or a psychology-related area (e.g., social work) than mental health professionals who worked with children. Burnout and Compassion Fatigue correlated negatively with all practices, evidence based and non-evidence based. Males used more evidence-based and total practices than females. Females had a higher level of Compassion Satisfaction but also a higher level of Burnout. The results showed that the mental health professionals who worked with children had higher levels of Compassion Satisfaction, but also higher levels of Burnout. The data show that the group that works with children used less cognitive and behavioral approaches. The broader implications of the results are discussed in the conclusion.