School of Psychology, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK.
Community Ment Health J. 2024 May;60(4):772-783. doi: 10.1007/s10597-024-01234-1. Epub 2024 Jan 29.
Peer support workers have lived experiences of the challenges their clients face. While research has shown peer work can benefit recovery, the negative consequences have not been clearly addressed. This study aimed to explore the experiences of compassion fatigue amongst peer support workers in homelessness services, and the coping strategies used. An explorative qualitative design was adopted. Six peer support workers, in homelessness services, were recruited via snowball sampling. Data was collected using semi-structured interviews and analysed using thematic analysis. Five themes were identified: relentless nature of working in homelessness services, change, making meaning of past experiences, organisational support, and personal coping strategies. There were two novel findings: (1) multiple clients recounting traumatic experiences, and (2) being unfairly blamed for lack of progress, exacerbating compassion fatigue. The findings of this study furthers limited research on compassion fatigue and can be used to develop protocols and practices for organisations that utilise peer support.
同伴支持工作者有着与客户所面临的挑战相关的生活经验。虽然研究表明同伴工作可以有益于康复，但尚未明确解决其负面后果。本研究旨在探索无家可归服务中的同伴支持工作者的同情疲劳体验，以及所使用的应对策略。研究采用探索性定性设计。通过滚雪球抽样法招募了六名无家可归服务中的同伴支持工作者。使用半结构化访谈收集数据，并使用主题分析进行分析。确定了五个主题：在无家可归服务中工作的无情性质、变化、对过去经历的意义构建、组织支持以及个人应对策略。有两个新发现：（1）多个客户讲述创伤经历，（2）因缺乏进展而受到不公平的指责，从而加剧了同情疲劳。本研究的结果进一步拓展了关于同情疲劳的有限研究，并可用于为利用同伴支持的组织制定协议和实践。
