Souvenirs from the Journey: Building Compassion Satisfaction through Confidence, Competence, Connectedness, and a Climate of Compassion
Title
Souvenirs from the Journey: Building Compassion Satisfaction through Confidence, Competence, Connectedness, and a Climate of CompassionDate
July 21, 2023Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
I didn’t realize mine was a story of building resiliency and compassion satisfaction until the COVID-19 pandemic emerged and I began to hear students, colleagues, friends, and family echo similar narratives from their journeys. Nurturing our compassion satisfaction is our first duty as helping professionals. Sometimes the best tools for resiliency in times of crisis come from the souvenirs from our own stories, hard won remembrances, personal lessons in narrative care. This article shares lessons learned for building compassion satisfaction: confidence in our big why, competence in our tools, connection with our village, and creating a climate of compassion for self and others so we may thrive in times of struggle.Publisher
School of Social WorkRelated items
Showing items related by title, author, creator and subject.
-
Examining Relationships In Applied Behavior Analysis: Training In Compassion, Burnout, Self-Compassion, And InflexibilityCompassionate care has been shown to have a positive impact on treatment outcomes and is embedded as part of the 2022 Ethics Code for Behavior Analysts. Historically, applied behavior analyst training programs have not universally focused on training in compassion and building therapeutic relationships. It is also not clear to what extent behavior analysts incorporate compassion into their own professional roles (e.g., as practitioners, supervisors/supervisees, or trainers), or engage in additional professional or personal training in this area. A further aim was to investigate whether there are any relationships between the self-reported scores on the amount of training in compassion, burnout, self-compassion, and psychological inflexibility. In the present study, behavior analytic practitioners (n=96) were surveyed on their self-reported educational and professional training experiences in compassion and building therapeutic relationships, and their levels of burnout (OLBI), self-compassion (SCS-SF), and psychological inflexibility (AAQ-2). The self-reported results indicate little training in this area, moderate levels of burnout and self-compassion, and generally low levels of psychological inflexibility. Further, there is a negative relationship between self-compassion and inflexibility. These findings suggest a first step in which more specific training in compassion and psychological flexibility should be incorporated into graduate programs and the workplace.
-
Preparedness and Risk Factors of Compassion Fatigue in Undergraduate Nursing StudentsThe incidence of compassion fatigue is increasing among healthcare workers especially those who do not know what compassion fatigue is and have not developed healthy ways to cope with compassion fatigue. Unfamiliarity with compassion fatigue stems back to nursing school. Research has been done on what compassion fatigue is, its causes and coping mechanisms but there is limited research as to how compassion fatigue effects students or whether or not nursing school prepares students on how to combat compassion fatigue in high stress or difficult situations. The intended purpose of this study is to evaluate the risk factors of compassion fatigue in undergraduate nursing students and their preparedness to deal with compassion fatigue as novice nurses. Methods: The study was set up as a quantitative study of freshman, sophomore, junior and senior undergraduate nursing students in the Salem State University Nursing Program. The ten-question survey contained questions related to demographics, risk factors for compassion fatigue and preparedness. Results: Data was analyzed using SPSS. Of the 607 possible BSN students, 105 (18%) BSN students completed the survey. 0% of students reported having no stress while 67.7% of students reported having an above average to extreme stress. 43.2% of BSN students reported frequently or constantly being preoccupied with the stressors of others. 73.3% of students reported that they had never heard of the term compassion fatigue. 96.2% of students reported that they do not frequently take time to wind down and reflect after a stressful situation. Conclusion: In conclusion, the research clearly demonstrates that students are in need of further education regarding the risk of compassion fatigue and how to better prepare themselves. The undergraduate nursing student's reported having several risk factors already in place including high stress and ineffective coping. They also reported being unprepared to deal with challenging situations involving patients.
-
Learning About Hospice: Honoring Veterans’ Lives With Compassion and ComraderyHospice care is vital to patients, their caregivers, and loved ones by providing care, comfort, and companionship when facing chronic and/or life limiting disease or illness of a loved one. The impact of these services is vital to quality of end-of-life for the impacted individual and for those who support and love them. A veteran and senior student intern at Salem State University (MA) was charged with the goal of improving pinning ceremonies for veterans at Beacon Hospice. Developments included implementation of Veteran Acknowledgement Cards, bedside honor kits for rapidly declining veterans, and updating literature. Internship objectives were completed despite setbacks related to COVID-19 and remote learning.
