Examining the Correlation of Self-Compassion and Compassion Fatigue in Social Work Interns

Social workers are exposed to trauma and suffering through experiences that are retold to them through their clients. This secondary exposure to suffering can have a negative impact on the practitioner resulting in compassion fatigue. The purpose of this study was to examine whether self-compassion is significantly correlated with lower levels of compassion fatigue among social work interns. The researcher examined levels of self-compassion and compassion fatigue amongst undergraduate, generalist, and clinical specialist graduate social work interns. Next, demographic characteristics (age, number of hours employed, gender, race, and religion) associated with self-compassion and compassion fatigue in social interns were identified. Finally, while controlling for the effects of the demographic characteristics, the linear relationship between self-compassion and compassion fatigue was examined in social work interns.
The sample comprised of 156 social work interns at two universities in South Florida. Descriptive statistics including mean, standard deviation, median, Cronbach’s alpha, range (minimum-maximum), skewness and kurtosis were calculated for continuous variables. Frequency and percentages were calculated to describe the categorical variables. ANOVA, Pearson correlation coefficient, independent-samples t test, and multiple linear regression analysis was used to examine additional relationshipsin this study.