Working With Traumatised Children During Traumatic Times: Residential Child Care Educators' Compassion Fatigue and Work Engagement

Abstract

Drawing from an Italian study conducted in residential care for children and guided by the postulates of the Job Demands and Resources Model, our aims are to investigate residential childcare educators' levels of compassion fatigue and work engagement, and to focus on the individual, work and organisational conditions associated. The survey involved 215 educators who were on duty during the summer of 2023. Data analysis employed descriptive statistics, bivariate and non-parametric analysis. Results concerning compassion fatigue indicate that while burnout globally registers low to medium scores, more than one-third of the sample fell in the ‘high’ category for personal burnout, more than one quarter scored high in work burnout and another one quarter have high client burnout scores. One into two suffer from moderate to severe manifestations of secondary traumatic stress, together with relatively high levels of work engagement. Based on individual, work and organisational variables, substantial differences were identified. In the final sections, we discuss job resources and demands and contribute to the development of targeted strategies for preventing compassion fatigue in residential childcare, while addressing strategies for enhancing better well-being levels for those working in alternative care, impacting children's well-being as well. Please refer to the Supporting Information section to find this article's Community and Social Impact Statement.