(PS12-55) Protecting the Heart of Healthcare Trainees: Valued Living, Perceived Stress, Self-compassion, and Compassion Fatigue

Individuals in the healthcare field face a multitude of psychosocial stressors related to their occupation. While much of the research focuses on medical doctors, the experiences of the other practitioners within healthcare settings are just as vital to explore. Allied health professionals can be defined as individuals engaging in healthcare practice adjacent to medical doctors. As members of the healthcare system, allied health professionals encounter high levels of work-related stress, which can bring on overall psychological stress. Allied health professionals tend to experience high levels of distress and difficulty with life satisfaction (Harris et al., 2006), and their working conditions can contribute to their experience of distress (Rodwell et al., 2009). In this way, this subset of the health professions experiences psychosocial stressors that require further examination.

The present study explored the relationship between psychological distress and compassion fatigue in allied health graduate students. The allied health professionals represented in this study were physician’s assistant, physical and occupational therapist, and speech and language pathologist graduate students. The study explored the impact of values-based living on the relationship between psychological distress and subsequent compassion fatigue. The study also explored the impact of values-based living on the relationship between self-compassion and compassion fatigue. A mix of self-report measures and open-ended prompts were administered to participants. Perceived stress level was shown to be a statistically significant predictor of self-compassion, R2 = .52, F(1, 111) = 119.50, p < .001. Perceived stress level was also a statistically significant predictor of compassion fatigue, R2 = .13, F(1, 110) = 16.82, p = < .001. Progress towards values was not a significant predictor of compassion fatigue, R2 = .032, F(1, 110) = 3.61, p = .60. However, values obstruction was shown to be a significant predictor of compassion fatigue, R2 = .28, F(1, 110) = 42.48, p < .001. Progress towards values was shown to be a significant predictor of self-compassion R2 = .35, F(1, 111) = 58.50, p < .001. Similarly, values obstruction was shown to be a significant predictor of self-compassion R2 = .27, F(1, 111) = 41.82, p < .001. All moderation analyses were non-significant. Qualitative themes related to stressors in graduate school included finances, social distress, school-specific distress, and health-related factors. Qualitative themes related to distressing patient experiences included negative interpersonal interactions with patients, emotional impacts of patient interactions, patient death, and organizational and workplace difficulties impacting patient care. Implications and future directions are discussed.