Compassion Fatigue and Satisfaction Within Sanctuary-Based Primate Husbandry

Abstract

Abstract Animal-care workers are at risk of compassion fatigue (i.e., experiencing burnout and secondary traumatic stress [STS]) which has been shown to adversely impact employee wellbeing, organizational productivity, and caregiving quality in other caregiving fields. The current cross-cultural analysis explored compassion fatigue among 46 primate sanctuary workers across three continents who completed the Professional Quality of Life (ProQOL) scale and Trauma-Informed Organizational Culture (TIOC) survey, and answered questions about their work. Higher compassion satisfaction (CS) and lower compassion fatigue were observed in primate care workers compared to previously published animal-care worker samples. CS negatively correlated with burnout whereas burnout positively correlated with STS. Workplace support positively correlated with CS while supervisory and peer support negatively correlated with burnout. Lastly, African-residing respondents had higher burnout and STS than did European- and North American-residing respondents and more often mentioned conservation concerns and recovery and release of animals as important elements of their work.