Self-help Before Helping Others: An Empirical Study Of Self-compassion And Compassion Fatigue Among Front-line Social Workers

Under the policy background of promoting the construction of professional social work personnel and strengthening the construction of mental health service and social psychological service system in China,social workers are playing an increasingly important role in psychological counseling and support and positive social mentality.However,since social workers keep close interaction with the vulnerable groups at the bottom of society for a long time,they will be exposed to a large number of negative traumatic experiences from the clients they service and put in a large amount of emotional labor.Their occupational mental health has gradually attracted the attention of professional and academic fields.Based on the policy and realistic background above,this study selected self-compassion,compassion fatigue and career self-efficacy as representative variables of occupational mental health among front-line social workers,to carry out a series of empirical studies.First of all,this study reviews the existing research literature on relevant variables in domestic and abroad,summarizes the research achievements,shortcomings and enlightenments for this study.After that,the research is divided into two parts: investigation research and intervention research.Questionnaire survey(n=235),case interview(n=5),controled intervention(n=13),statistical analysis,text analysis and other methods are used to comprehensively analyze the current level,influencing factors and internal relationships of self-compassion,compassion fatigue and career self-efficacy among front-line social workers in China,introduces and tests the effectiveness of self-compassionate letter writing in relieving compassion fatigue of front-line social workers.Finally,on the basis of summarizing the conclusions of the two parts of the study,some measures and suggestions are put forward to improve the compassion fatigue and such occupational mental health among social workers in China.The specific conclusions of this study are as follows:(1)There is a certain degree of compassion fatigue among front-line social workers in certain industries in China,and 62.6% of front-line social workers have moderate or severe symptoms of compassion fatigue in screening;(2)There are significant differences in self-compassion,compassion fatigue or career self-efficacy among social workers at different ages,educational levels,working years,professional qualifications and supervisory communication frequency;(3)After controlling for relevant demographic factors,there is a significant correlation between self-compassion,compassion fatigue and career self-efficacy among front-line social workers,and career self-efficacy partially mediated the relationship between self-compassion and compassion fatigue;(4)Self-compassionate letter writing lasting for a week can improve the level of self-compassion of front-line social workers,meanwhile improves career self-efficacy to relieve compassion fatigue to a certain extent,and ultimately benefit mental health;(5)Self-compassionate letter writing can reduce negative emotions by activating corresponding emotional regulation strategies to improve the mechanism of emotional and behavioral coping effectiveness to repair the self-regulation system of front-line social workers and promote their mental health;(6)Taking effective measures in social workers individuals,education and talent management will improve the compassion fatigue and such occupational mental health among social workers in China.