The cost of caring: Compassion fatigue among peer overdose response workers in British Columbia
Date
2023
Authors
Mamdani, Zahra
McKenzie, Sophie
Ackermann, Emma
Voyer, Rayne
Cameron, Fred
Scott, Tracy
Pauly, Bernie
Buxton, Jane A.
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Substance Use & Misuse
Abstract
Background: The drug toxicity crisis has had dramatic impacts on people who use drugs. Peer overdose response workers (peer responders), i.e., individuals with lived/living experience of drug use who work in overdose response settings, are particularly susceptible to negative physical and mental health impacts of the crisis. Despite that, the mental health impacts on peer responders have yet to be studied and measured. Methods: The Professional Quality of Life survey (Version 5) was completed by 47 peer responders at two organizations in British Columbia between September 2020 and March 2021 to assess compassion satisfaction and compassion fatigue. The Likert scale responses were converted into numerical values and scores were calculated for each sub-scale. The mean score was calculated for each sub-scale and categorized as low, medium, or high, based on the instructions for Version 5 of the instrument. Results: Our study uncovered a high mean score for compassion satisfaction, low mean score for burnout, and medium mean score for secondary traumatic stress among peer responders. These results may be due to the participants’ strong feelings of pride and recognition from their work, as well as the low number of participants that felt they had too much to do at work. Conclusion: Although peer responders derive pleasure and fulfillment from their jobs, i.e., compassion satisfaction, they also sometimes face burnout and stress due to continuous exposure to the trauma of the people they support. These results shed light on the areas that need to be targeted when creating supports for peer responders.
Description
Keywords
overdose response, burnout, compassion fatigue, compassion satisfaction, frontline workers, overdose prevention sites, overdose related deaths, peer responders, people who use drugs, secondary traumatic stress
Citation
Mamdani, Z., McKenzie, S., Ackermann, E., Voyer, R., Cameron, F., Scott, T., Pauly, B., & Buxton, J. A. (2023). The cost of caring: Compassion fatigue among peer overdose response workers in British Columbia. Substance Use & Misuse, 58(1), 85–93. https://doi.org/10.1080/10826084.2022.2148481