The initial development and validation of the counselor empathy fatigue scale (CEFS)
- UNCG Author/Contributor (non-UNCG co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
- Megan A. Whitbeck (Creator)
- Institution
- The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG )
- Web Site: http://library.uncg.edu/
- Advisor
- Carrie Wachter Morris
Abstract: Since the onset of the global pandemic, rates of anxiety, depression, suicide, and substance use in the United States have risen about 20% (CDC, 2020). As rates of mental health concerns increase, the need for effective counseling services simultaneously grows. This increase in suffering and mental health concerns, coupled with high demand for mental health services, leaves counselors vulnerable to a range of occupational stressors, including empathy fatigue. Counselors create space for clients to share challenges associated with the pandemic, grief, loss of normal functioning and adjustment, in addition to non-COVID-19 related stressors, all of which can take a toll on a counselor’s well-being over time (Joshi & Sharma, 2020; Stebnicki, 2007). This toll, called empathy fatigue, is a state of emotional, mental, physical, spiritual, and occupational exhaustion that occurs as multiple client stories of distress, trauma, grief, loss, and adversity have a cumulative adverse effect on the counselor and compromise their empathic abilities (Stebnicki, 2016). Empathy fatigue is a fatigue syndrome rooted in professional counseling, unlike others such as burnout, vicarious trauma, and compassion fatigue which are discussed broadly across helping professions (Stebnicki, 2007; 2016). Empathy is a core component of effective counseling practice, a strong therapeutic relationship, and necessary for meaningful client change (Rogers, 1957). Empathy fatigue can arise when practitioners empathically engage with clients in distress, reducing their empathic capabilities, and thus reducing their clinical efficacy (Figley, 1995; Stebnicki, 2016). The purpose of this study was to develop and validate a self-report measure of empathy fatigue in professional counselors. The final CEFS measure included 34-items and four unique factors: 1) Decreased personal wellbeing, 2) Negative attitude toward work, 3) Psychosomatic exhaustion, and 4) Psychological detachment from the counseling process, explaining 55.04% of the variance. The total scale and all four subscales had high internal consistency and results indicated evidence of convergent validity. Implications for counselor educators, supervisors, and clinicians are offered, including directions for future research on empathy fatigue. The CEFS fills a gap in our knowledge of impairment in clinicians who engage in empathic therapeutic relationships with clients and offers a starting point for the promotion of wellness and prevention of personal and professional impairment in the helping professions.
The initial development and validation of the counselor empathy fatigue scale (CEFS)
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Created on 5/1/2023
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Additional Information
- Publication
- Dissertation
- Language: English
- Date: 2023
- Keywords
- Burnout, Counseling, Empathy fatigue, Helping professionals, Instrument development, Wellness
- Subjects
- Mental health counselors
- Burn out (Psychology)
- Empathy