Occupational stress amongst audiologists: compassion satisfaction, compassion fatigue, and burnout
Michael S Severn1, Grant D Searchfield, Peter Huggard
1Section of Audiology, The Goodfellow Unit of the Department of General Practice and Primary Health Care, School of Population Health, The University of Auckland, New Zealand.
Objective:
This study aimed to investigate occupational stress amongst audiologists, along with quantification of their professional quality of life: Burnout, compassion fatigue, and compassion satisfaction.
Design:
A cross-sectional postal survey research design using an audiology occupational stress questionnaire (AOSQ), and the professional quality of life (ProQOL) instrument.
Study Sample:
The sample consisted of members of the New Zealand Audiological Society. One hundred and forty-five questionnaires were mailed, 82 responses were received.
Results:
The main findings suggest that six stress factors dominate clinical audiology: (1) time demand, (2) audiological management, (3) patient contact, (4) clinical protocol, (5) patient accountability, and (6) administration or equipment. A significant relationship was found between increasing age of the audiologist and risk of acquiring burnout (chi-square (1)=6.119, p<0.05). Pearson's correlation's revealed time demand was the strongest predictor of low compassion satisfaction (r=0.327) and burnout (r=0.463), while stress associated with patient contact was the strongest predictor of compassion fatigue (r=0.352).
Conclusions:
This study identifies sources of stress for clinical audiologists and different factors that contribute to professional quality of life.
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