The Relationship Between Present-Centered Awareness and Attention, Burnout, and Compassion Fatigue in Oncology Health Professionals

Objectives: Oncology health professionals experience high levels of burnout and compassion fatigue, affecting their health and the care they provide. This study aimed to establish whether present-centered awareness and attention (a component of mindfulness) is uniquely associated with burnout and co...

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Main Authors: Hegel, Jamie, Halkett, Georgia, Schofield, Penelope, Rees, Clare, Heritage, brody, Suleman, Sahil, Inhestern, Laura, Butler, Thomas, Fitch, Margaret, Breen, Lauren
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Springer Nature 2021
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/89244
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author Hegel, Jamie
Halkett, Georgia
Schofield, Penelope
Rees, Clare
Heritage, brody
Suleman, Sahil
Inhestern, Laura
Butler, Thomas
Fitch, Margaret
Breen, Lauren
author_facet Hegel, Jamie
Halkett, Georgia
Schofield, Penelope
Rees, Clare
Heritage, brody
Suleman, Sahil
Inhestern, Laura
Butler, Thomas
Fitch, Margaret
Breen, Lauren
author_sort Hegel, Jamie
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Objectives: Oncology health professionals experience high levels of burnout and compassion fatigue, affecting their health and the care they provide. This study aimed to establish whether present-centered awareness and attention (a component of mindfulness) is uniquely associated with burnout and compassion fatigue in oncology professionals. Methods: An international sample of oncology professionals (n = 118) completed an online questionnaire with validated measures of present-centered awareness and attention, empathy, compassion fatigue, and burnout. Hierarchical multiple regressions were used to model relations among the independent variable (present-centered awareness and attention) and the criterion variables of burnout (disengagement, exhaustion) and compassion fatigue (compassion satisfaction, compassion burnout, secondary traumatic stress) after statistically controlling for empathy, age, gender, years of experience, and patient contact hours. Results: Mean hours of patient contact per week was 23.52 (SD = 13.62), with 26 (22.03%) reporting 40 h or more. Higher hours of patient contact per week were positively associated with secondary traumatic stress. Present-centered awareness and attention was associated with lower disengagement, lower emotional exhaustion, higher compassion satisfaction, lower secondary traumatic stress, and lower compassion burnout. In each model, present-centered awareness accounted for unique variance after controlling for age, gender, years of experience, patient contact hours per week, and empathy scores. The amount of unique variance accounted for by present-centered awareness ranged from 4 to 10%. Conclusions: Oncology professionals reporting higher levels of present-centered awareness and attention reported higher compassion satisfaction and lower secondary traumatic stress, compassion burnout, exhaustion, and disengagement. Promoting present-centered awareness may be a mechanism that contributes to less burnout in oncology professionals.
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-892442022-09-19T05:35:39Z The Relationship Between Present-Centered Awareness and Attention, Burnout, and Compassion Fatigue in Oncology Health Professionals Hegel, Jamie Halkett, Georgia Schofield, Penelope Rees, Clare Heritage, brody Suleman, Sahil Inhestern, Laura Butler, Thomas Fitch, Margaret Breen, Lauren Social Sciences Science & Technology Life Sciences & Biomedicine Psychology, Clinical Psychiatry Psychology Oncology Mindfulness Present-centered awareness Attention Burnout Compassion fatigue MINDFULNESS EMPATHY STRESS SATISFACTION VALIDITY NURSES CARE VALIDATION AUSTRALIA SCALE Objectives: Oncology health professionals experience high levels of burnout and compassion fatigue, affecting their health and the care they provide. This study aimed to establish whether present-centered awareness and attention (a component of mindfulness) is uniquely associated with burnout and compassion fatigue in oncology professionals. Methods: An international sample of oncology professionals (n = 118) completed an online questionnaire with validated measures of present-centered awareness and attention, empathy, compassion fatigue, and burnout. Hierarchical multiple regressions were used to model relations among the independent variable (present-centered awareness and attention) and the criterion variables of burnout (disengagement, exhaustion) and compassion fatigue (compassion satisfaction, compassion burnout, secondary traumatic stress) after statistically controlling for empathy, age, gender, years of experience, and patient contact hours. Results: Mean hours of patient contact per week was 23.52 (SD = 13.62), with 26 (22.03%) reporting 40 h or more. Higher hours of patient contact per week were positively associated with secondary traumatic stress. Present-centered awareness and attention was associated with lower disengagement, lower emotional exhaustion, higher compassion satisfaction, lower secondary traumatic stress, and lower compassion burnout. In each model, present-centered awareness accounted for unique variance after controlling for age, gender, years of experience, patient contact hours per week, and empathy scores. The amount of unique variance accounted for by present-centered awareness ranged from 4 to 10%. Conclusions: Oncology professionals reporting higher levels of present-centered awareness and attention reported higher compassion satisfaction and lower secondary traumatic stress, compassion burnout, exhaustion, and disengagement. Promoting present-centered awareness may be a mechanism that contributes to less burnout in oncology professionals. 2021 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/89244 10.1007/s12671-020-01591-4 English Springer Nature restricted
spellingShingle Social Sciences
Science & Technology
Life Sciences & Biomedicine
Psychology, Clinical
Psychiatry
Psychology
Oncology
Mindfulness
Present-centered awareness
Attention
Burnout
Compassion fatigue
MINDFULNESS
EMPATHY
STRESS
SATISFACTION
VALIDITY
NURSES
CARE
VALIDATION
AUSTRALIA
SCALE
Hegel, Jamie
Halkett, Georgia
Schofield, Penelope
Rees, Clare
Heritage, brody
Suleman, Sahil
Inhestern, Laura
Butler, Thomas
Fitch, Margaret
Breen, Lauren
The Relationship Between Present-Centered Awareness and Attention, Burnout, and Compassion Fatigue in Oncology Health Professionals
title The Relationship Between Present-Centered Awareness and Attention, Burnout, and Compassion Fatigue in Oncology Health Professionals
title_full The Relationship Between Present-Centered Awareness and Attention, Burnout, and Compassion Fatigue in Oncology Health Professionals
title_fullStr The Relationship Between Present-Centered Awareness and Attention, Burnout, and Compassion Fatigue in Oncology Health Professionals
title_full_unstemmed The Relationship Between Present-Centered Awareness and Attention, Burnout, and Compassion Fatigue in Oncology Health Professionals
title_short The Relationship Between Present-Centered Awareness and Attention, Burnout, and Compassion Fatigue in Oncology Health Professionals
title_sort relationship between present-centered awareness and attention, burnout, and compassion fatigue in oncology health professionals
topic Social Sciences
Science & Technology
Life Sciences & Biomedicine
Psychology, Clinical
Psychiatry
Psychology
Oncology
Mindfulness
Present-centered awareness
Attention
Burnout
Compassion fatigue
MINDFULNESS
EMPATHY
STRESS
SATISFACTION
VALIDITY
NURSES
CARE
VALIDATION
AUSTRALIA
SCALE
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/89244