A pilot study of self-care education for psychotherapists

Existing research shows that psychotherapists may experience secondary trauma and burnout, often neglecting self-care. This study aims to examine the effectiveness of self-care education in enhancing self-care efficacy among psychotherapists and explore factors affecting improvements in their self-care abilities.

A self-care workshop was conducted for 159 psychotherapists from various fields. Participants' demographic information and self-care ability data were collected. The Exercise of Self-Care Agency Scale (ESCA) was used to assess the participant's self-care levels before and after the workshop.

Post-workshop, ESCA total scores and subscale scores of participants showed significant increases (all P<0.001). Notably, score improvement levels differed by gender and years of practice, with female therapists showing greater improvement than male therapists (t=2.069, P=0.040) and those with longer work experience showing greater improvement than those with shorter experience (F=2.537, P=0.042).

Providing self-care education for psychotherapists is essential. Future self-care education programs or interventions for psychotherapists should consider gender and work experience factors to better support their self-care enhancement.