Higher education professionals may be susceptible to compassion fatigue and/or burnout due to their exposure to student trauma. While the term compassion fatigue originated in the healthcare and mental health professions, other "caring" professions may be exposed to the same risks. Compassion fatigue is a reduced capacity to empathize with, or display interest in, clients due to exposure to their traumatic experiences. Exposure may entail providing support to or hearing from someone who has undergone a traumatic experience. It has been described as the "cost" of the compassion and empathy shown by those in the helping professions.

Higher Ed Work Stressors and Compassion Fatigue

What might contribute to compassion fatigue? Researchers say poor self-care, unresolved trauma, work stressors, and a lack of satisfaction with work. Compassion fatigue changes the worker's beliefs about the world due, in part, to the empathetic aspect of the relationship. Notably, higher education professionals run a risk because they may also respond to the needs of their clients (i.e., students) with empathy.

Compassion fatigue is similar to burnout in that they both threaten job satisfaction and productivity. Burnout has been described as frustration and fatigue because of unrealistic and excessive demands on internal resources, which leads to exhaustion. Burnout can manifest in a lack of interest in work, and in the emotional, mental, and sometimes physical collapse that occurs as a response to an extended period of high workload. It can be aligned with the organizational structure and the lack of control that the practitioners feel over their situation (e.g., unrealized professional goals, limited advancement, etc.) that impacts the helping relationship.

In higher education, the student affairs work environment has significant human services aspects; thus, the potential for consistent exposure to traumatic events, via student experiences, may engender the experience of compassion fatigue and negatively impact the helping relationship. Compassion fatigue may manifest as emotional exhaustion, preoccupation, depersonalization, and disconnection. The contrast between compassion fatigue and burnout has been noted to be in interaction with other individuals. Essentially burnout can occur with just doing the work of your job, without necessarily interacting with others' trauma versus compassion fatigue that is specific to engagement with the trauma of others.

Think of it, student affairs may be the initial connection for students who seek support and/or need assistance in dealing with problems. Student affairs professionals provide general human services - student activities, judicial affairs, health services, accommodations, housing, career and counseling services, etc. They are enmeshed with the everyday lives of students and are often a part of their support system. Professionals may encounter student concerns ranging from suicidal ideation and attempts, alcohol abuse, domestic and sexual violence to mental health issues. These experiences may leave the student affairs professional vulnerable to compassion fatigue and/or burnout.

Noticing the impact of student affairs psychological well-being is important because this may impact levels of attrition in higher education. High attrition among personnel costs organizations time, money, productivity and can curtail advancement due to needing to train new employees. Further, professionals who stay may need to take on responsibilities that have been left behind. The financial and productivity losses experienced during employee transitions are significant and may disrupt the creation and sustainability of a positive and productive campus culture. The loss of skilled personnel may undermine department functioning, i.e., to be valuable to the students as a source of assistance.

Compared to other areas within higher education, those in student affairs reported the highest level of job stress and pressure. Fifty-three percent of student affairs personnel indicated that their levels of burnout were high, 63% said their stress levels were high. Professionals specified that ineffective supervision was a reason for leaving the field; some professionals noted larger organizational culture issues at their institutions that led to their departure. Regarding workplace culture, 69% of personnel reported that they appreciated their coworkers, but 42% did not appreciate their supervisors.

Ways to Address Compassion Fatigue and Burnout

On an individual level, possible ways of reducing compassion fatigue and burnout can be in the form of professionals communicating their needs and emphasizing skills to balance work and life. Listen to this episosde of the HigherEdJobs Podcast for advice on communicating burnout with your supervisor. For professionals themselves, cultivating mindfulness and self-care may also help change levels of compassion fatigue and burnout. Within higher education work culture, cultivating a revitalizing work environment may entail becoming supportive and challenging supervisors, recognizing work/non-work-life balance, empowerment, valuing of professionals, open communication, adequate pay and promotion. Another way is the provision of mentorship in different areas that are applicable to the professional's needs.

Compassion fatigue may occur when higher education professionals become overloaded with other people's stress and trauma leading to physical and mental exhaustion. Because student affairs attrition rates impact staff positions and human resources, learning ways of curtailing the possibility of becoming fatigued and burnt out may help reduce levels of attrition, which may in turn have a positive impact on student growth and development.

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