Title
Compassion Fatigue: Considerations For Working With The Elderly
Keywords
Burnout; Compassion fatigue; Elderly and burnout; Secondary traumatic stress disorder; Social work burnout
Abstract
Compassion fatigue is characterized by physical and psychological exhaustion resulting from excessive professional demands that drain available personal resources. While all helping professionals are vulnerable to compassion fatigue, the authors believe that social workers working with the elderly have unique stresses that make them a high-risk group for compassion fatigue. Increased frustration over limited financial, social and medical services for the elderly, exposure to the developmental challenges inherent during the older years and the worker's countertransferential issues are discussed as contributors to compassion fatigue. Other factors that reinforce this type of burnout for professionals working with this population and recommendations for avoiding or decreasing compassion fatigue are presented. © 1999 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.
Publication Date
9-20-1999
Publication Title
Journal of Gerontological Social Work
Volume
32
Issue
1
Number of Pages
43-62
Document Type
Article
Personal Identifier
scopus
DOI Link
https://doi.org/10.1300/J083v32n01_04
Copyright Status
Unknown
Socpus ID
33645529684 (Scopus)
Source API URL
https://api.elsevier.com/content/abstract/scopus_id/33645529684
STARS Citation
Leon, Ana M.; Altholz, Judith A.S.; and Dziegielewski, Sophia F., "Compassion Fatigue: Considerations For Working With The Elderly" (1999). Scopus Export 1990s. 4162.
https://stars.library.ucf.edu/scopus1990/4162