Transcendent Characteristics as Predictors of Counselor Professional Quality of Life.
Counseling is an emotionally demanding profession (Skovholt, 2001), with many counselors experiencing compassion fatigue (Lawson, 2007; Lawson, Venart, Hazier, & Kottler, 2007). Thus, the professional quality of life (i.e., the quality one feels in relation to one's work as a helper; Stamm, 2010) has been a topic of growing interest over the past few decades. Burnout, one of the negative expressions of professional quality of life (Stamm, 2010), can affect individuals at any point in their career and may reduce productivity, creativity, compassion toward clients (Grosch & Olsen, 1994), and counselor self-reported quality of care (Salyers et al., 2015). Indeed, burnout raises organizational costs due to increasing absenteeism, tardiness, and reduced job commitment in a variety of professions (Smoot & Gonzolas, 1995; Stalker & Harvey, 2002).Counselors' professional quality of life may be impacted by several elements, including the work environment, caseload, individual characteristics, exposure to primary and secondary trauma in the workplace (Lawson & Myers, 2011; Stamm, 2010), poor counselor self-care, and inability to control work stressors (Figley, 1995). Researchers have also found that positive and adaptive personality characteristics are associated with higher levels of well-being and life satisfaction in the general population (Seligman, Steen, Park, & Peterson, 2005), and several programs have been developed to enhance these characteristics (Quinlan, Swain, & Vella-Brodrick, 2012). To date, however, very few investigations have looked at the relationships between positive personal characteristics and professional quality of life in counselors. Accordingly, the present study examined the associations between transcendent strengths (i.e., gratitude, hope, and daily spiritual experiences) and counselors' professional quality of life.
PROFESSIONAL QUALITY OF LIFE
Researchers have understood the importance of career satisfaction to well-being for some time, dating back to the first national conference on vocational guidance in 1909 (Drummond & Ryan, 1995). Since then, a great deal of research has helped fine-tune and guide those interested in improving people's well-being in the workplace. With respect to helping professionals, in particular, Stamm (2005, 2010) identified unique benefits and risks in this line of work for one's professional quality of life. To address the unique needs of helping professionals, he developed the Professional Quality of Life Scale (ProQOL; Stamm, 2005), which aims to separate the positive outcomes of helping (i.e., compassion satisfaction) from the negative outcomes (i.e., compassion fatigue).
Stamm (2005) argued that compassion fatigue consists of two related factors: burnout (i.e., feelings of hopelessness and difficulties in dealing with work or in doing one's job effectively) and secondary traumatic stress (i.e., work-related secondary exposure to extreme or traumatic stressful events). Recent research showed that burnout is related to adverse childhood experiences, global anxiety attachment (Wilkins, Eriksson, Pickett, & Barrett, 2017), perceived working conditions, maladaptive coping mechanisms (Thompson, Amatea, & Thompson, 2014), and frequent exposure to disturbing material (Brady, 2017). Likewise, secondary traumatic stress has been associated with less relationship satisfaction, lower social intimacy, and less use of constructive communication patterns among mental health therapists (Robinson-Keilig, 2014).
Although researchers have focused attention on the negative predictors of burnout and secondary traumatic stress, relatively few have examined positive/protective factors in counselors or other helping professionals. This lack of research is important to address, considering that the American Counseling Association Task Force for Counseling Impairment recommended shifting its focus from one of deficits to one of wellness and prevention in 2003 (Lawson et al., 2007). To date, the recommendations of the task force have generally manifested in research related to career-sustaining behaviors (e.g., Lawson & Myers, 2011), but little has been explored concerning the relationships of counselors' positive personal characteristics with their professional quality of life. Nevertheless, a small but growing body of literature has identified characteristics such as mindfulness, positive perceptions of one's work environment
(Thompson et al., 2014), social support, and positive coping mechanisms as protective factors against burnout (Brady, 2017).
TRANSCENDENT CHARACTERISTICS
The present study adopted a positive-assets approach to align with the suggestion of Lawson et al. (2007) that we will see less impairment in counselors when the actions of counselors and the profession reflect a respect for the counselors' own wellness. Lawson et al. (2007) also argued for the inclusion of research and theory related to happiness and well-being, in part because these are the same positive qualities that counselors strive to promote in their own clients. Much of the research related to protective factors and quality of life falls under the auspices of positive psychology (see Reivich, Seligman, & McBride, 2011). However, several core constructs in positive psychology have yet to be examined in relation to counselors' professional quality of life. Peterson and Seligman (2004), for instance, suggested that certain positive psychological characteristics reflect a broader connection to ultimate purpose, meaning, and self-actualization (i.e., transcendent strengths). Arguably, such transcendent strengths are conceptually unique from the career-supporting behaviors that have generally been the focus in the extant counselor quality-of-life literature (Lawson & Myers, 2011). Furthermore, many counselors seek to promote these strengths in their clients. The following sections briefly review the literature related to three specific transcendent strengths/characteristics (i.e., gratitude, hope, and spirituality [daily spiritual experiences]) and these strengths' potential connections to counselors' professional quality of life.
Gratitude
Gratitude has been defined as "a generalized tendency to recognize and respond with grateful emotion to the roles of other people's benevolence in the positive experiences and outcomes that one obtains" (McCullough, Emmons, & Tsang, 2002, p. 112). Gratitude has been shown to lead to improved social relationships (Williams & Bartlett, 2015), greater life satisfaction (Proyer, Gander, Wyss, & Ruch, 2011), increased social support, adaptive coping abilities, and emotional well-being (Lin, 2015). In addition, Lanham, Rye, Rimsky, and Weill (2012) found that trait-based and workplace-specific gratitude predicted decreased emotional exhaustion and depersonalization and increased job satisfaction in mental health workers. Although Lanham et al. (2012) were among the first to link trait gratitude to mental health workers' professional quality of life, their sample included participants with limited day-to-day therapy/treatment interaction (e.g., clinical administrators/supervisors, employment/housing specialists). Thus, further research is needed to examine these constructs specifically in counselors actively engaged in treating clients.
Hope
Research regarding hope (i.e., a person's goal-directed thought processes and the identification of pathways to overcome obstacles; see Snyder, Rand, & Sigmon, 2005) indicates that higher levels of hope are correlated with better overall psychological adjustment, self-worth, and life satisfaction (Snyder, Sympson, Michael, & Cheavens, 2001). More specific to the aims of the present study, Schwartz, Tiamiyu, and Dwyer (2007) found that hope is negatively correlated with burnout in social workers. In a qualitative study of reintegration counselors assisting women on parole and probation, Flesaker and Larsen (2012) also found hope to be an important ingredient in combating work-related exhaustion. Moreover, scholars have theorized that hope is a critical component of effective counseling (Snyder et al., 2001), and research suggests that in addition to clients needing to have hope (Gilman, Schumm, & Chard, 2012), therapists need to maintain hope to help clients meet their goals (O'Hara & O'Hara, 2012). Thus, hope is not only a therapeutic gift but also a critical characteristic that might help maintain a higher professional quality of life for counselors.
Spirituality
Spirituality has been promoted in the counseling literature as a potential source of strength for clients in overcoming challenges (Nichols & Hunt, 2011). Research suggests that aspects of religiousness and spirituality may be particularly helpful for individuals who are dealing with stressful events and conditions (Nichols & Hunt, 2011). A person's level of spirituality has been defined as "the aspect of humanity that refers to the way individuals seek and express meaning and purpose, and the way they experience their connectedness to the moment, to self, to others, to nature, and to the significant or sacred" (Puchalski et al., 2009, p. 887). Spirituality has been shown to be related to a person's level of quality of life (Visser, Garssen, & Vingerhoets, 2010), burnout, life satisfaction (Wachholtz & Rogoff, 2013), resilience, and psychological well-being (Newmeyer et al., 2014). Notably, for the present study, daily spiritual experiences have been shown to have a significant negative relationship to nursing assistants' compassion fatigue (Harris, 2015).
THE PRESENT STUDY
Each of these transcendent constructs of hope, gratitude, and daily spiritual experiences suggests corresponding benefits to professional quality of life in professions closely aligned with counseling (e.g., social work, mental health administration; Lanham et al., 2012). However, we are unaware of any investigation connecting these constructs to working mental health counselors or of any study examining the combined contributions of hope, gratitude, and daily spiritual experiences with respect to counselors' professional quality of life. Given that each of these transcendent strengths can be harnessed or increased via targeted interventions (Davis et al., 2016; Koehn, O'Neill, & Sherry, 2012; Pearce et al., 2015), understanding how they work together to potentially protect against burnout and enhance compassion satisfaction may result in novel interventions to promote counselor well-being. Accordingly, the present study examined the contributions of hope, gratitude, and daily spiritual experiences as predictors of counselors' professional quality of life (i.e., burnout, secondary traumatic stress, and compassion satisfaction). In addition, we examined demographic variables that, in theory, could explain unique variance in professional quality of life, such as the age of the counselor, number of years practicing, gender, income level, and race. For example, researchers have found that burnout is negatively related to age and years of clinical practice in nursing populations (Lee & Seomun, 2016). Given the general dearth of research on counselor professional quality of life, examining potential demographic influences is needed to provide a more in-depth picture of which counselor characteristics are relevant. We advanced one central hypothesis: When controlling for potential demographic covariates, transcendent characteristics will be positively and uniquely related to compassion satisfaction and negatively related to burnout and secondary traumatic stress.
METHOD
Procedures and Participants
After receiving institutional review board approval, the researchers collected data at a state counseling association conference in the southern United States. The primary researcher and research assistant had a booth at the conference where people could learn about the study and receive the informed consent form and questionnaire. Those who returned the survey could win one of eight $25 debit cards. Participants were 98 counselors who attended the conference. Only individuals who possessed a master's degree in counseling and who were currently working as counselors were included in the study. No identifying personal information was collected. Sixty-five percent of those given surveys returned them. This study had four predictor variables (including the control variable of age), so in order to have a power of .80, alpha of .05, and medium effect size (0.15), the study needed at least 85 participants (Cohen, 1992).
Ninety-eight participants completed the survey. The sample consisted of 81 female and 17 male participants ranging in age from 24 to 77 years old, with a mean age of 44.55. More than half (65.3%) of the participants reported being married or in a domestic partnership; 20.4% were single, 9.2% divorced, and 5.1% widowed. The racial/ethnic profile of the sample was 53.1% White/Caucasian, 39.8% African-American, 3.1% American Indian/Alaska Native, and 4.1% identified as multiracial. Years in practice ranged from less than 3 years to more than 25 years, with a median of 6-10 years. Household income levels ranged from < $25,000 to > $150,000 per year, with a mode of $50,000-$74,999.
Measures
Professional Quality of Life Scale. The ProQOL consists of 30 items that respondents rate based on the frequency with which the specific experiences and feelings happen to them during their work. The 5-point Likert-type scale ranges from 1 = never to 5 = very often. Scores can be obtained for each of three subscales: compassion satisfaction, burnout, and secondary traumatic stress. Each scale measures discrete constructs. Higher scores on the compassion satisfaction scale indicate a higher level of functioning and a greater degree of gratification from one's ability to be an effective caregiver (Stamm, 2005). Higher scores on the burnout and secondary traumatic stress scales indicate that the person is at higher risk for compassion fatigue (Stamm, 2005). Scores are calculated by reversing the ratings on some items, summing the items for each subscale, and converting raw scores to t-scores. Each scale has a mean of 50 and a standard deviation of 10. A combination of high compassion satisfaction scores and low compassion fatigue scores is the most positive result, and the reverse indicates significant work distress. According to Stamm (2010), ProQOL scores have evidenced good test-retest reliability, indicating stability over time, and good construct validity.
Gratitude Questionnaire-Six-Item Form. The Gratitude Questionnaire-Six-Item Form (GQ-6) is a six-item self-report measure of the disposition to experience gratitude (McCullough et al., 2002). It was developed on a sample of 1,228 adult volunteers with ages ranging from 18 to 75. The GQ-6 has demonstrated support for a unidimensional structure, and GQ-6 scores have evidenced nonsignificant correlations with social desirability. GQ-6 scores have produced good evidence for convergent validity with well-being and peer ratings, as well as high test-retest reliability over time (McCullough et al., 2002; Wood, Maltby, Gillett, Linley, & Joseph, 2008). Items were designed to assess emotional intensity, frequency, and density. Items are rated on a 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree) scale, with higher scores indicating more trait gratitude. GQ-6 scores have exhibited adequate internal consistency reliability (Cronbach's alphas = .76 to .87; McCullough et al., 2002; McCullough, Tsang, & Emmons, 2004) and high temporal stability over approximately three months (r = .59 and .73 for two samples of undergraduate students; Wood et al., 2008).
Trait Hope Scale. The Trait Hope Scale developed by Snyder et al. (1991) measures dispositional hope in persons 15 years of age and older. The Trait Hope Scale consists of 12 items divided into two subscales: agency and pathways. Agency refers to goal-directed energy, and pathways are the plans identified to achieve those goals. Four items measure agency, four items measure pathways, and the remaining four items are distractors. A total hope score constitutes the average of the four agency and four pathways items. Each item is rated on a Likert scale from 1 (definitely false) to 8 (definitely true). Total hope scores have demonstrated good internal consistency with Cronbach's alphas of .74-.84 for the total hope score in a variety of clinical and nonclinical samples (Snyder et al., 1991). Test-retest reliability correlations have been .80 or higher over a minimum of 10 weeks. Total hope scores have demonstrated correlations of .50-.60 with optimism (Lopez, Snyder, & Pedrotti, 2003).
Daily Spiritual Experiences Scale. The Daily Spiritual Experiences Scale (DSES; Underwood, 2011; Underwood & Teresi, 2002) is a 16-item scale that measures a person's perception of the transcendent (God or the divine) in daily life, as well as perceptions of interactions with the transcendent in life. The DSES measures everyday ordinary experiences rather than particular beliefs or behaviors (Underwood & Teresi, 2002) and assesses both theistic and nontheistic spirituality (Underwood, 2011). Questions are measured on a 6-point Likert scale. Item choices are many times a day (coded 6), every day (5), most days (4), some days (3), once in a while (2), and never or almost never (1). Item 16 is measured on a 4-point scale: not close at all (coded 1), somewhat close (2), very close (3), and as close as possible (4). Previous research supports the reliability (Cronbach's alpha of .94 and .95 for the 16-item version of the scale) and validity of DSES scores (Loustalot et al., 2011; Underwood & Teresi, 2002). This study utilized the total score for the DSES.
RESULTS
Preliminary Analyses
Before the primary analysis was conducted, participants' scores were examined for missing data, univariate and multivariate outliers, and normality. The percentage of participants missing data in the sample ranged from 3.1% for the Trait Hope Scale to 4.1% for the ProQOL. Available item analysis (i.e., taking the mean of each participant's available items; see Parent, 2013) was used to create complete subscale scores, because all participants completed at least 80% of each scale. Univariate outliers were identified by assessing the z-scores of participants. Three participants were identified as extreme and were removed from the analysis. Hope and gratitude scales were negatively skewed. However, in the primary analysis, outcomes were not significantly different when using the transformed or non-transformed variable. Therefore, all outcomes reported in the primary analysis were based on non-transformed data for interpretability. Correlation coefficients, means, standard deviations, and internal consistency coefficient alphas for each variable of interest are provided in Table 1. Of note, although transcendent strengths were associated with burnout and compassion satisfaction at the bivariate level (see Table 1), they were not related to secondary traumatic stress.
Primary Analyses
We used hierarchical multiple regression to examine the combined contributions of transcendent strengths as predictors of counselors' professional quality of life, while controlling for age, as it was the only demographic variable found to be significantly correlated with the dependent variables in our preliminary analyses (see Table 1). Specifically, age was entered at the first step of the regression, and transcendent strengths were entered at the second step. One regression was used to predict counselors' compassion satisfaction and another to predict burnout. Table 2 displays the standardized and unstandardized regression coefficients, as well as model F-values and percentage of variance explained in each dependent variable at the final step.
When predicting compassion satisfaction at the first step, the model was not significant. However, at the second step, the model was significant, and compassion satisfaction was predicted by higher trait hope ([beta] = .41, p < .001). The final model accounted for 22.3% of the variation in counselors' compassion satisfaction. By contrast, when predicting burnout at the first step, the model was significant (p = .01), with counselor age as a negative predictor ([beta] = -.29, p < .010). At the second step, the model was significant, and burnout was predicted by a combination of lower age ([beta] = -.20, p < .05), less gratitude ([beta] = -.28, p < .010), and fewer daily spiritual experiences ([beta] = -.25, p < .010). The final model explained 30.4% of the variation in counselors' burnout. Because secondary traumatic stress was not related to any predictor or covariate variable at the bivariate level, it was not included in our primary regression models as a criterion variable. However, we examined it post hoc and found no evidence for suppression effects that could have canceled out any bivariate associations in our preliminary analyses. In short, neither age, hope, gratitude, nor daily spiritual experiences were associated with secondary traumatic stress at the bivariate or multivariate level.
DISCUSSION
Despite the American Counseling Association's recommendation that the profession move from a deficit model of counselor impairment to a strengths-based prevention perspective (Lawson et al., 2007), relatively few studies have examined counselors' strengths in relation to their professional quality of life. The present study tested whether the transcendent characteristics of gratitude, hope, and daily spiritual experiences were associated with positive and negative aspects of professional quality of life in a sample of practicing mental health counselors. Our results partially supported our main hypothesis that transcendent characteristics would be positively associated with compassion satisfaction and negatively associated with burnout and secondary traumatic stress.
After controlling for demographic variables, we found that hope was the only significant predictor among the three transcendent characteristics in relation to compassion satisfaction. Hope was also the only significant correlate of compassion satisfaction at the bivariate level. In addition, our results highlight the fact that burnout and compassion satisfaction are separate factors in professional quality of life (Stamm, 2005, 2010) with different correlates. Furthermore, the positive association between hope and compassion satisfaction is consistent with previous research demonstrating that higher levels of hope are often related to positive personal and relational experiences (Snyder et al., 2001).
Although hope emerged as a significant predictor of counselors' compassion satisfaction, burnout was predicted by a different combination of transcendent characteristics, and there were no associations with secondary traumatic stress. With respect to burnout, more gratitude and more daily spiritual experiences emerged as the strongest negative predictors. These findings extend prior research that found that gratitude and spirituality were protective factors among mental health workers (e.g., counselors and administrative staff) and medical students (Harris, 2015; Lanham et al., 2012; Wachholtz & Rogoff, 2013) by demonstrating that similar relationships emerged in a sample consisting solely of practicing mental health counselors. Moreover, our results indicate that lower age was associated with greater counselor burnout, raising the intriguing possibility that older counselors may have unique life experiences that protect them from compassion fatigue. Moreover, because age of the counselor was the only demographic variable associated with burnout at the bivariate level, the present multivariate effect of age in the model does not appear to be an artifact of having fewer years of practice experience or a lower income. Future research is needed to identify why younger counselors may be at an increased risk of burning out.
Taken together, the present findings suggest that transcendent strengths may serve as differential enhancement or protective factors for specific aspects of counselor quality of life as a whole. This raises questions about why certain transcendent strengths were better predictors of compassion satisfaction or burnout. Given that hope was positively associated with compassion satisfaction but was overshadowed by gratitude and daily spiritual experiences when predicting burnout, one possibility is that hope is conceptually unique. For example, hope is future oriented, and high-hope individuals are focused on future goals. By contrast, both gratitude and daily spiritual experiences are more present-focused orientations. Such findings indicate a need for greater inquiry into transcendent strengths and counselor professional quality of life in order to identify ways of both enhancing and strengthening potential protective factors.
Limitations and Directions for Future Research
This small regional sample, although applicable to its region, has limitations in generalizing to a larger population and would benefit from follow-up with a larger, more representative sample. The cross-sectional design and self-report nature of this study also present some limitations, and additional longitudinal and experimental research is needed. Focusing on client or peer report assessments would lend depth to our understanding in this area, as would longitudinal and intervention studies looking at the relation of these transcendent variables to professional quality of life over time. Additionally, although this study used valid and reliable measures, utilizing other measures of gratitude, hope, and spirituality in future studies might deepen our understanding of these transcendent characteristics in relation to counselors' quality of life. With regard to our sample, although the ratios of men to women in this study are similar to those in the counseling profession, we lacked the power necessary to examine sex or gender differences. Thus, the outcomes may be different when men and women are analyzed separately. This differentiation may be especially true because men and women differ in their strengths and in how these relate to their own life satisfaction (Brdar, Anic, & Rijavec, 2011).
Practice Implications
The present findings suggest that transcendent characteristics, such as hope, gratitude, and daily spiritual experiences, may help promote better professional quality of life. A large body of research has shown that working on developing or enhancing these characteristics in clients can improve their well-being (see Burns, 2010, for an excellent clinical guidebook). Although the present findings do not imply causality, our results suggest that it may be helpful for counselors to enhance their personal strengths. For example, researchers have developed ways of increasing hope intentionally (e.g., breaking goals down into small, more accomplishable chunks and focusing on one's achievements; Snyder, Lehman, Kluck, & Monsson, 2006). Based on the present findings, counselors may benefit from taking a similar approach to their own personal or professional goals, though additional research will be needed to determine whether hope interventions indeed increase professional quality of life for counselors. Nevertheless, researchers have found that hope can be harnessed/increased (compared to a control group) with as little as 90 minutes of targeted psychoeducation in college students (Feldman & Dreher, 2012). Thus, another possibility is that hope-oriented education or group interventions provided to counseling students could be used to help build hope early in their career.
In addition to building hope, the present findings suggest that increasing counselor gratitude may be beneficial. Common and effective gratitude interventions include writing letters and journaling (Davis et al., 2016). Another approach is to make lists. For example, an individual can identify three good things each day that went well and why (Killen & Macaskill, 2015; Seligman et al., 2005). Although additional research is needed to determine the impact of such gratitude intervention on counselors' professional quality of life, the present associations suggest that counselors may benefit from applying established gratitude interventions to their own lives in meaningful ways. The present findings may also suggest that focusing on gratitude in the actual work of counseling could potentially be a helpful consideration for facilitating a better professional quality of life, though future research will be needed to test this possibility in more detail, considering we did not examine work-related gratitude in the present study.
With regard to daily spiritual experiences, Underwood (2013), the author of the DSES, argued that the scale items can be used as open-ended questions to facilitate more sensitivity to simple daily spiritual experiences all around us, regardless of whether one identifies as religious. For instance, the first question on this assessment asks participants to consider how often they directly have the experiences listed and to select the appropriate frequency. The first possible experience is "I am spiritually touched by the beauty of creation." Underwood encourages individuals to go beyond identifying how often this occurs by writing about times where they were touched by the beauty of creation/nature and describing the experience in vivid detail. The present findings highlight a need for more research into counselors' daily spiritual experiences. At the same time, each item on the DSES could be used to generate discussion or insight for counselors. The present findings suggest that helping counselors learn to connect with such transcendent strengths may protect them from burning out, though future experimental and longitudinal research is needed to confirm this assertion. Although further research is warranted to understand why greater spirituality was associated with less burnout in the present study, our findings suggest it may be an important strength to consider nurturing personally and professionally.
CONCLUSION
This study focused on three constructs in positive psychology representing transcendent characteristics (i.e., hope, gratitude, and spirituality). Our findings suggest that such transcendent strengths/characteristics may hold promise as potential protective factors for counselors' professional quality of life. It is hoped that these findings will stimulate further research, education, and practice among counselors and educators to enhance counselors' well-being and ultimately to facilitate more effective and meaningful practice.
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Brandon R. Browning, Department of Counseling and Instructional Sciences, University of South Alabama; Ryon C. McDermott, Department of Counseling and Instructional Sciences, University of South Alabama; Marjorie E. Scaffa, College of Medicine, University of South Alabama.
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Brandon R. Browning, Department of Counseling and Instructional Sciences, University of South Alabama, UCOM 3812, 307 University Blvd., N., Mobile, AL 36688. E-mail: [email protected]
doi.org/10.17744/mehc.41.1.05
Table 1 Correlation Matrix: Gratitude, Hope, Daily Spiritual
Experiences, Burnout, Secondary Traumatic Stress, and Compassion
Satisfaction
1 2 3 4 5 6
1. Age of .63 (**) -.19 .31 (**) -.14 .20
counselor
2. Years practiced -- -.13 34 (**) -.09 -.01
3. Gender -- -.16 .11 .28 (**)
4. Income level -- -.04 .13
5. Race -- .00
6. Gratitude --
7. Hope
8. DSES
9. Burnout
10. STS
11. Compassion
satisfaction
[alpha] -- -- -- -- -- .70
M 44.55 3.16 1.83 3.38 1.47 39.13
SD 11.34 1.77 0.38 1.25 0.50 3.06
7 8 9 10 11
1. Age of .04 .10 -.26 (*) -01 .16
counselor
2. Years
practiced -.10 .05 -.02 .03 .02
3. Gender .00 .14 -.08 .17 .04
4. Income level .04 .21 (*) .07 .02 -.12
5. Race -.02 33 (**) -.09 .02 .04
6. Gratitude .23 (*) .25 (*) -.42 (**) -.04 .19
7. Hope -- .02 -.21 (*) .00 .42 (**)
8. DSES -- -.29 (**) -.06 .17
9. Burnout -- .43 (**) -.48 (**)
10. STS -- -.06
11. Compassion
satisfaction
[alpha] .80 .95 .71 .79 .88
M 54.71 62.33 21.08 22.73 41.94
SD 5.30 13.57 4.88 5.50 5.38
Note. N = 98. Race was coded as I = majority and 2 = minority. Gender
was coded 1 = male and 2 = female.
DSES = Daily Spiritual Experiences Scale; STS = secondary traumatic
stress.
(*) p < .05. (**) p < .01. (***) p < .001.
Table 2 Summary of Multiple Regression Analyses for Variables
Predicting Counselors' Self-Reported Compassion Satisfaction and
Burnout Compassion Satisfaction and Burnout
Compassion satisfaction
Step Variable 8 SE B [beta]
Step 1 Age .07 .05 .15
Step 2 Age .05 .05 .11
Gratitude .05 .20 .03
Hope .41 .10 .41 (***)
Daily spiritual
experiences .06 .04 .16
[R.sup.2] .22
[DELTA][R.sup.2] .20 (***)
F 7.12 (***)
Burnout
Step B SE B [beta]
Step 1 -.12 .04 -.29 (**)
Step 2 -.08 .04 -.20 (*)
-.46 .17 -.28 (**)
.14 .09 -.15
-.09 .03 - 25 (**)
.30
.22 (***)
8.91 (***)
Note. N = 98.
(*) p < .05. (**) p < .01. (***) p< .001.
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| Title Annotation: | RESEARCH |
|---|---|
| Author: | Browning, Brandon R.; McDermott, Ryon C.; Scaffa, Marjorie E. |
| Publication: | Journal of Mental Health Counseling |
| Article Type: | Report |
| Date: | Jan 1, 2019 |
| Words: | 6649 |
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