Assessing the effectiveness of emotion-focused online intervention in mitigating compassion fatigue and enhancing compassion satisfaction among helping professionals

Abstract

This study aimed to assess the effectiveness of a newly developed Emotion-Focused Training for Helping Professions in addressing levels of compassion fatigue, compassion satisfaction and self-criticism, both in the short and long term. A randomized controlled trial was conducted, with 667 participants recruited and randomly assigned to either the experimental active or control passive group ending up with 370 participants at follow-up measurement. The experimental group underwent a 14-day asynchronous online training program delivered via email, while the control group did not engage in any specific task except for the pre-, post- and follow-up assessments. The results from the linear mixed effects model analyses indicated significant group-by-time interactions for The Forms of Self-Criticizing/Attacking & Self-Reassuring Scale, and for The Compassion Satisfaction and Compassion Fatigue Scale. Specifically, participants in the Emotion-Focused Training for Helping Professions group exhibited a notable reduction in self-criticism and a notable increase in self-compassion and compassion satisfaction over time. The participants' scores of compassion fatigue decreased in both intervention as well as control groups; therefore, the group-by-time interaction was not significant. The findings suggest that the novel Emotion-Focused Training for Helping Professions intervention holds promise in effectively mitigating self-criticism while fostering greater compassion satisfaction and self-reassurance/self-compassion among helping professionals.