Compassion Satisfaction, Burnout, Secondary Traumatic Stress among Physical Therapists and Physical Therapist Assistants in Mississippi: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Background Compassionate care is an important component of quality healthcare. Compassion fatigue (CF) is common among healthcare providers. However, there are limited studies investigating components of compassion fatigue among physical therapists and physical therapist assistants. This study investigates the prevalence of compassion satisfaction (CS), burnout (BO), and secondary traumatic stress (STS) among physical therapists and physical therapist assistants in the state of Mississippi during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods A cross-sectional descriptive survey approach was used to collect data from 187 licensed physical therapists and physical therapy assistants in Mississippi. The survey utilized the Professional Quality of Life (ProQOL) questionnaire to assess the participants' well-being and job satisfaction. Results The results showed that the mean scores of the ProQOL subscales indicated a majority of individuals experienced medium (55%) to high (44%) compassion satisfaction. Burnout scores were low (41%) to medium (59%) with no response recording a high burnout rating. A majority (99%) of participants reported medium (37%) to low (62%) secondary traumatic stress. There were some significant differences in the mean scores in relation to the participants' demographic characteristics. Age showed a significant positive association with compassion satisfaction (β=2.724, p=0.011) but not burnout (β=-1.471, p=0.149) or secondary traumatic stress (β=-0.454, p=0.633). The results of the study showed that respondents 55 years old or older reported the highest mean compassion satisfaction score, the lowest burnout score, and the lowest secondary traumatic stress score. Being a male is negatively associated with secondary traumatic stress (β=-4.063, p<0.001) but not compassion satisfaction (β=-0.779, p=0.483) or burnout (β=-1.222, p=0.252). Neither education nor care type were significant predictors for compassion satisfaction, burnout, and secondary traumatic stress. Whether respondents worked overtime appeared to be a significant predictor for secondary traumatic stress (β=3.520, p<0.001) but not for compassion satisfaction (β=1.043, p=0.321) or burnout (β=1.167, p=0.247). Conclusions The findings of this study suggest that physical therapists in Mississippi experienced both compassion satisfaction as well as burnout and secondary traumatic stress during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the degree to which each individual experienced these were dependent on various factors and not all were statistically significant. Age, sex, and corresponding experience level of the practitioner seemed to play the biggest role. The results of this study highlight individual factors that could increase a physical therapist's or physical therapist assistant's likelihood of developing compassion fatigue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]