Compassion fatigue and stress coping among psychologists working with disadvantaged groups

The aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between compassion fatigue and stress coping styles in psychologists working with disadvantaged groups and to examine to what extent depression, anxiety and stress predict compassion fatigue. Comparative analyses were conducted on the demographic characteristics of the participants in their coping styles with compassion fatigue and stress. The study was conducted with the Demographic Data Form, Professional Quality of Life Scale, Ways of Coping with Stress Scale and Depression Anxiety Stress Scale. These were administered to 300 psychologists, 252 of whom were women (84%), 48 of whom were men (16%), and who ranged in age from 22 to 65 (M = 29.82, SD=6.0) and lived in Istanbul, Izmir, and Bursa. It was found that the coping styles of psychologists working with disadvantaged groups had a predictive effect on compassion fatigue. Also, depression, anxiety and stress were found to be predictors of compassion fatigue. When the demographic characteristics were examined, it was found that the levels of compassion fatigue and coping styles differed according to gender and duration of work in the profession.