Abstract
Compassion Fatigue (CF) refers to a state of physical, biological and social exhaustion that occurs as a result of the professional’s exposure to the suffering of others. It has effects not only on the professionals who provide assistance/care, but also on the organization of work, and can affect the quality of care, satisfaction and safety of the person being treated. In their work, firefighters who act as first responders face emergent tasks, witnessing long-term life-threatening events, tragedies and disasters, and experience negative impacts on their physical and mental health. In this direction, a mixed-methods study was conducted with the objective of analyzing the elements that favor CF in professionals who work in the context of disasters. The study involved 300 firefighters from the states of Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina, Rio de Janeiro and Minas Gerais, who answered a socio-occupational questionnaire, the ProQOL5 Scale, an instrument composed of 30 items that aim to assess the quality of professional life composed of positive aspects (“Compassion Satisfaction”) and negative aspects (“Compassion Fatigue”), and at the same time, answered a semi-structured interview. The study was approved by the Research Ethics Committee (opinion 6,575,124). The findings provide information on the levels of CF among the participants, and the associations with sociodemographic and professional variables that favor illness or Compassion Satisfaction. The results indicate important aspects to be considered in the formulation of occupational health policies, especially those aimed at professionals who work in disasters.
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
Technical, Political, and Social Responses
KEYWORDS
COMPASSION FATIGUE, OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH, OCCUPATIONAL HAZARDS, DISASTERS, POLICE AND FIREFIGHTERS
