Compassionate Response Research Articles

Stigma, Outsider Status and Mothers in Prison

Drawing on Elias’s work on established-outsider figurations, stigmatisation and the civilising process, this study explores the narratives of women, who are mothers of children under the age of 18 years old, in one female prison in England, United Kingdom. We conducted 31 in-depth interviews as well as three focus groups with 26 different women, exploring their experiences of being an imprisoned mother as well as staying in contact with their children from prison. Moreover, we interviewed 15 members of staff. Our findings highlight the stigmatised ‘outsider’ nature that is ascribed to mothers in prison which is reinforced by the prison environment and figurations between mothers and prison staff. By highlighting the stigmatised and outsider positioning of mothers in prison, this research has significance for practice and policy. Improving support for imprisoned mothers and the development of non-stigmatising, more inclusive, compassionate institutions and compassionate responses are thus required.

“You Just Don’t Talk about Certain Topics”: How Concerns to Disclose Suffering to Leaders Constrain Compassion at Work

Employee and organizational sustainability are threatened by widespread stress, burnout, and mental health challenges, among other life events. Compassion at work may create more sustainable organizations by alleviating this suffering, but scholars remain puzzled as to why compassion often fails to unfold within organizations. One potential explanation is that suffering employees feel uncertain in expressing suffering at work. To date, however, relatively little research has examined the perspective of suffering employees and the potential hesitation to express suffering due to organizational norms, power dynamics with leaders, and other influences. This study seeks to expand our understanding of compassion by examining how suffering employees make sense of compassionate interactions with leaders, and the concerns they have disclosing and discussing suffering at work. Utilizing qualitative, semi-structured interviews, we found that suffering employees have four driving concerns, which constrain the discussion of suffering at work: (1) professionalism and the appropriateness of suffering, (2) the validity of one’s suffering, (3) the collective impact of a compassionate response, and (4) image management. These concerns, while at times isolated, were often layered for employees in ways that compounded the challenge of disclosing suffering and openly engaging with leaders across the compassion process. We analyze these driving concerns, linking them to prior research and illustrating how these concerns limit employees ability to receive compassion and, in some cases, exacerbate their suffering. Practical implications are discussed as well, outlining ways that organizations can shape compassion processes toward greater employee sustainability.

Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis of the Chronicles of Untold Reality: Mother’s Mental Imbalance and Prejudice of Relations in an African Society

Mental health remains a concealed subject in African society, veiled by taboo and prejudice. Families coping with the burden of mental imbalance often endure social ostracization, entangled in a web of fear as hereditary concerns cast an ominous shadow on future generations. This narrative delves into the lived experience of a daughter whose mother’s unexpected diagnosis of mental imbalance upends their lives, unveiling the harsh realities of societal perceptions and the resilience required to navigate the unknown. Drawing upon the methodology of Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA), the research unearths the essence of the protagonist’s experience and how they attribute meaning to their existence. This phenomenological approach allows for a deeper exploration of the emotional turmoil faced by the family at the onset of the mother’s sickness and how they cope with the profound challenges that follow. As the story unfolds, the protagonist’s mother, an accomplished school principal and district education director, grapples with memory loss and impulsive behavior, leading to vulnerability and victimization. The emotional upheaval faced by the family is captured vividly, as they navigate the complexities of their mother’s deteriorating mental health. The search for a cure becomes an arduous battle, involving medical institutions, alternative treatments, and unwavering familial support. In the face of prejudice and stigmatization surrounding mental illness, the family’s resilience shines through, uniting them in their pursuit of understanding and compassion. The narrative also explores the protagonist’s internal struggle with faith and their quest for solace amidst the challenges posed by their mother’s condition. Through this narrative and the application of IPA, the profound impact of mental health on individuals and families within African society is revealed. The research sheds light on the urgent need for a more compassionate societal response, breaking down barriers of prejudice, and fostering empathy and support for those facing mental health challenges. The combination of lived experiences and interpretive analysis brings to the fore the unspoken pain and unresolved questions endured by the protagonist, her mother, and their family. The hope of the protagonist lies in envisioning a future where understanding and dignity prevail, empowering individuals to walk their journeys with compassion and empathy.

Disentangling the road to a compassionate response to suffering: A multistudy investigation

This multistudy investigation is focused on the analysis of theoretically relevant compassion-related appraisals (i.e., similarity with the person in need, attribution of responsibility, and help-related perceived efficacy) that may promote compassionate responses in the context of adversity. Study 1 (N = 384) revealed that a higher similarity with the person in need, lower attribution of responsibility, and higher help-related perceived efficacy were associated with increased compassion, which, in turn, was associated with a greater desire to help. Study 2 (N = 319) extended prior findings by examining whether this compassionate pathway could be modulated by perspective taking, which is the act of considering the feelings of others in need. Results showed that the compassionate pathway found in Study 1 seems to remain constant regardless of perspective-taking instructions (e.g., imagining how that person feels vs. remaining objective and detached). In this research, we point out a promising direction for interventions directed at enhancing compassion and prosocial tendencies in distressing contexts.

Epidemiology of compassion: A literature review.

Psychology and neuroscience have contributed significantly to advances in understanding compassion. In contrast, little attention has been given to the epidemiology of compassion. The human experience of compassion is heterogeneous with respect to time, place, and person. Therefore, compassion has an epidemiology, although little is known about the factors that account for spatial or temporal clustering of compassion or how these factors might be harnessed to promote and realize a more compassionate world. We reviewed the scientific literature to describe what is known about "risk factors" for compassion towards others. Studies were included if they used quantitative methods, treated compassion as an outcome, and used measures of compassion that included elements of empathy and action to alleviate suffering. Eighty-two studies met the inclusion criteria; 89 potential risk factors were tested 418 times for association with compassion. Significant associations with compassion were found for individual demographic factors (e.g., gender, religious faith); personal characteristics (e.g., emotional intelligence, perspective-taking, secure attachment); personal experience (e.g., previous adversity); behaviors (e.g., church attendance); circumstantial factors during the compassion encounter (e.g., perceptions of suffering severity, relational proximity of the compassion-giver and -receiver, emotional state of the compassion-giver); and organizational features. Few studies explored the capacity to receive, rather than give, compassion. Definitions and measures of compassion varied widely across disciplines; 87% of studies used self-report measures and 39% used a cross-sectional design. Ten randomized clinical trials documented the effectiveness of compassion training. From an epidemiologic perspective, most studies treated compassion as an individual host factor rather than as transmissible or influenced by time or the environment. The causal pathways leading from suffering to a compassionate response appear to be non-linear and complex. A variety of factors (acting as effect modifiers) appear to be permissive of-or essential for-the arising of compassion in certain settings or specific populations. Future epidemiologic research on compassion should take into account contextual and environmental factors and should elucidate compassion-related dynamics within organizations and human systems. Such research should be informed by a range of epidemiologic tools and methods, as well as insights from other scientific disciplines and spiritual and religious traditions.

Promoting Compassionate Responses to Disclosures of Sexual Violence in University Settings: Exploring the Impact of a Social Marketing Campaign.

This study explores a social marketing campaign aimed to promote compassionate responses to disclosures of sexual violence from peers and raise awareness of university-based formal support services. Findings from a survey (n = 189) and follow-up focus groups (n = 11) conducted with university students in Australia indicated that exposure to the campaign may support students' self-perceived confidence in responding compassionately to disclosures of sexual violence and raise awareness of university-based formal support services. These findings suggest social marketing may be a useful tool to form part of universities' sexual violence response and prevention strategies. These findings may help inform future university campaigns.

Staff experiences, perceptions of care, and communication in the intensive care unit during the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia

BackgroundIn 2020, during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia, hospital intensive care units (ICUs) revised patient care practices, curtailed visiting, and augmented the use of personal protective equipment to protect patients, staff, and the community from viral transmission. AimThe aim was to explore ICU staff experiences and perceptions of care and communication with patients during the COVID-19 pandemic to understand how alternative ways of working have influenced work processes, relationships, and staff morale. MethodsThis was a qualitative exploratory design study using audio-recorded and transcribed interviews with 20 ICU staff members. Data were analysed using thematic analysis. FindingsFour major themes were derived from the data: (i) Communication and connection, (ii) Psychological casualties, (iii) Caring for our patients, and (iv) Overcoming challenges. Patient care was affected by diminished numbers of critical care qualified staff, limited staff entry to isolation rooms, and needing to use alternative techniques for some practices. The importance of effective communication from the organisation and between clinicians, families, and staff members was emphasised. personal protective equipment hindered communication between patients and staff and inhibited nonverbal and verbal cues conveying empathy in therapeutic interactions. Communication with families by phone or videoconference was less satisfying than in-person encounters. Some staff members suffered psychological distress, especially those working with COVID-19 patients requiring extracorporeal membrane oxygenation. Moral injury occurred when staff members were required to deny family access to patients. Workload intensified with increased patient admissions, additional infection control requirements, and the need to communicate with families using alternative methods. ConclusionThe results of this study reflect the difficulties in communication during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. Communication between staff members and families may be improved using a more structured approach. Staff reported experiencing psychological stress when separating families and patients or working in isolation rooms for prolonged periods. A flexible, compassionate response to family presence in the ICU is essential to maintain patient- and family-centred care.

How does self-compassion help people adjust to chronic skin conditions? A template analysis study.

ObjectivesSkin conditions can greatly impact people's lives, but greater understanding of the processes involved in positive adjustment is required. Self-compassion has strong links to wellbeing and adaptive functioning and therefore may play an important role in adjustment to skin conditions.DesignTemplate analysis was used to explore how self-compassion operates in people living with skin conditions, with reference to existing theories of self-compassion.MethodsSemi-structured interviews were conducted with highly self-compassionate people with chronic skin conditions (N = 10). Theoretical models of self-compassion were used in the development of the initial template and interview schedule. Participants were purposively selected on the basis of having high scores on a measure of self-compassion.ResultsParticipants reported a variety of ongoing skin-related difficulties and their ways of managing these. Sensitivity to distress and care for wellbeing were identified as foundation themes: necessary components of a compassionate response to distress. Eleven types of difficulty-management strategies built upon these foundation themes: empathy, non-judgement, distress tolerance, self-kindness, mindful attention, perspective-taking, self-talk, self-care, using social support, concealment, and idiosyncratic coping strategies.ConclusionsComponents of self-compassion helped people adjust to chronic skin conditions in a wide variety of ways, indicating that psychological adjustment is not a simple, linear process. Sometimes compassionate responses occurred automatically and sometimes with deliberate effort. Further research on compassion-based interventions for people with skin conditions is warranted.

The influence of signs of social class on compassionate responses to people in need.

A field experiment (N = 4,536) examined how signs of social class influence compassionate responses to those in need. Pedestrians in two major cities in the United States were exposed to a confederate wearing symbols of relatively high or low social class who was requesting money to help the homeless. Compassionate responding was assessed by measuring the donation amount of the pedestrians walking past the target. Pedestrians gave more than twice (2.55 times) as much money to the confederate wearing higher-class symbols than they did to the one wearing lower-class symbols. A follow-up study (N = 504) exposed participants to images of the target wearing the same higher- or lower-class symbols and examined the antecedents of compassionate responding. Consistent with theorizing, higher-class symbols elicited perceptions of elevated competence, trustworthiness, similarity to the self, and perceived humanity compared to lower-class symbols. These results indicate that visible signs of social class influence judgments of others’ traits and attributes, as well as in decisions to respond compassionately to the needs of those who are suffering.

Self-compassion and social anxiety: The mediating effect of emotion regulation strategies and the influence of depressed mood.

Self-compassion constitutes a positive way of relating towards the self that enables emotional regulation and reduces emotional distress. This research first explored differences among a sample of persons with social anxiety disorder (SAD) and groups of high socially anxious (HSA) and low socially anxious (LSA) students on self-compassion, emotion regulation, and social anxiety. We then investigated emotional regulation as a mediator of the prediction of social anxiety by self-compassion and the influence of depressed mood on those relationships. Study 1 compared a SAD group to matched groups of HSA and LSA students. Study 2 utilized the total sample (n=330 students and n=33 SAD) to test mediation. Self-compassion and emotion regulation were predictors of social anxiety and depression a covariate. In Study 1, the SAD group did not differ from the HSA group on most aspects of self-compassion and emotional regulation but was higher on depression. Both were lower on most measures and higher on depression than the LSA group. In Study 2, higher self-compassion predicted lower social interaction anxiety, and emotional regulation strategies mediated this effect, regardless of depression. However, for social performance anxiety, controlling for depression removed mediation. Refraining from uncompassionate responses was directly connected to social anxiety, whereas compassionate responses influenced social anxiety via emotional regulation. Results affirm the ameliorative role of self-compassion on social anxiety and emotion regulation strategies as mechanisms of that influence. However, self-compassion's influence was affected by depression and type of social anxiety. Also, refraining from uncompassionate self-responding appears to be of prime importance in predicting social anxiety, whereas compassionate self-responding influences social anxiety via emotion regulation.

Social Reactions After Disclosing Suicide Loss Among Women.

Background: Suicide loss is often concealed. While initial evidence suggests that disclosure is important for healthy grieving, observed beneficial effects may depend on social reactions. Aim: The current study aimed to identify social reactions and associated consequences experienced by persons who lost a loved one to suicide (i.e., suicide loss survivors). Method: We conducted qualitative interviews with 22 female adult suicide loss survivors focusing on social reactions after suicide loss. Interviews were transcribed and analyzed using qualitative content analysis. Results: When talking about their loss with others, suicide loss survivors experienced a broad range of social reactions including compassionate and supportive responses, speechlessness and insecurity, curiosity and gossip, stigmatization, and grieving expectations. Depending on these social reactions, disclosing suicide loss was associated with both negative and positive long-term effects. Limitations: The findings are limited to the current female sample. Conclusion: Interventions that help suicide loss survivors in finding supportive confidants, combined with public interventions to decrease public suicide stigma and improve the public's readiness to provide helpful support to suicide loss survivors, could improve grieving outcomes among this group.

When worlds collide: Socio-political conflict in patient care.

The country as a whole has been on high alert since early 2020. That year began with the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, then moved through the largest single day drop of the Dow Jones industrial average, the murders of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd and subsequent Black Lives Matter protests, murder hornets, the election of Joe Biden, alleged voter fraud, and then culminated on January 6, 2021, with the assault on the United States Capital Building. Societal issues including racism, discrimination, and distrust of leaders have been themes in the news and social media. It should come as no surprise that we may be called upon to provide treatment to patients with whom we have significantly different belief systems, which could result in conflict. The emotional rawness that pervades much of society lays emotions bare for many. Our ethical responsibilities as healthcare providers compel us to think about these complex relationships intentionally, and with compassion. In an interactive workshop conducted at the 42nd Forum for Behavioral Science in Family Medicine, participants were led through scenarios in which conflict could enter the exam room, discussion of the potential consequences, and consideration of ways to respond ethically in those situations. The discussions were couched in the codes of ethics of the American Psychological Association, the National Association of Social Workers, and the American Medical Association. The interactive session was designed to encourage participants to (1) consider potentialities of patient-provider conflict, (2) consider ethical, compassionate responses, and (3) be mindful of social media.

Introduction

Introduction

Worship as Social Creativity: Social Identity and the Form of Psalm 79

The form of Ps. 79 is often assessed as disoriented and disorienting. This study examines how the disoriented form of Ps. 79 creatively bolsters communal identity in the face of affliction primarily on the basis of the psalmist’s contention that God remains faithful to the covenant community. When one assesses the form of the psalm through the framework of social identity theory, three social creativity strategies become apparent, which facilitate a positive reassessment of social identity following crisis, namely, (1) the psalmist redefines the valence of the community’s state of affliction as an attribute that should inspire God’s compassionate response, (2) the psalmist engages in downward social comparison by villainizing adversarial nations for their arrogance and iniquity, and (3) the psalmist embraces the community’s commitment to worship. Consequently, the psalm’s medium and message enable recovery from its life setting.

Best Practices for Increasing Compassion Resiliency and Moral Wellness in Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Settings

Best Practices for Increasing Compassion Resiliency and Moral Wellness in Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Settings

Compassion in the Time of COVID-19: Responding to Suffering in Organizations

This article develops a taxonomy to capture how the COVID-19 pandemic has created particular forms of employee suffering. During the pandemic, employee suffering is initiated by personal or work conditions (or both) that trigger pain and concurrently lead the employee to question their self-worth, identity, and personhood. The article introduces readers to three dimensions of suffering that helps to categorize and distinguish between different forms of suffering: the source of the suffering, the location of the suffering, and employees’ perceived control over the suffering. Building on this taxonomy, we develop suggestions for ways in which managers can use compassion to alleviate employee suffering. We further discuss how organizational structures can enhance or impede compassionate responses. Overall, this article provides managers with a useful theory-based tool to facilitate appropriate responses to employee suffering during the pandemic.

Trauma-Informed Care Takes Center Stage in Ongoing Pandemic

Trauma-Informed Care Takes Center Stage in Ongoing Pandemic

Domesticating Humanitarianism: Stephanie Land’s Maid, This American Life, and the Imaginative Politics of Need

This article introduces the concept of “domestic humanitarianism” as a critical lens to identify the cultural logics and moral economy that inform the production, narrative and reception of Stephanie Land’s memoir, Maid, and “Three Miles”, an episode of This American Life. This analysis provides insight into the humanitarian solutions and ad hoc gestures to economic precarity that come to substitute for the receding promises of the American Dream. Such compassionate responses, I argue, potentially distract our attention from the slower, collective work of economic redistribution necessary for seeding economic justice and sustainable living conditions.

Moving in a State of Fear: Ambiguity, Gendered Temporality, and the Phenomenology of Anticipating Violence

ABSTRACT This article adopts a feminist phenomenological method to flesh out the way in which gendered norms position the experience of anticipating violence. While women’s everyday lives are frequently polluted with an atmosphere laden with potential threats, the law struggles to adequately grasp this experience of anticipating violence. We argue that the dominant legal understanding of violence is incapable of grasping the experience of anticipating violence because the temporal focus of violence is constrained by the law’s focus on violence as an ‘event’ to which it responds. Drawing on interviews with women in positions of leadership in Northern Ireland we provide a description of this gendered experience of anticipating violence. In these cases, women occupy a temporally and spatially stretched out space of being-in-anticipation that not only creates an atmosphere of ambiguity but restricts the space for women to exercise control over their own lives. Arguably the way that anticipation restricts women’s ways of engaging with the world create affective conditions that parallel those of the violence they seek to avoid. We conclude by proposing that the ambiguity that characterises anticipation leaves space for a compassionate response through intersubjective recognition.

What constitutes a compassionate response? The important role of culture.

American compassionate responses (i.e., sending sympathy cards) focus more on the positive (e.g., comforting memories) and less on the negative (e.g., the pain of someone's death) than German compassionate responses, partly because of cultural differences in how much people want to avoid feeling negative (i.e., avoided negative affect [ANA]). However, are these culture-specific compassionate responses considered more comforting and compassionate within their respective cultural context? We predicted that Americans would find responses that focus on the negative less and those that focus on the positive more comforting and compassionate than Germans will and that ANA would mediate these differences. In Study 1, 152 Americans and 315 Germans reported their ANA and rated how comforting they considered receiving different sympathy cards. As predicted, Americans found sympathy cards that contained negative content less and cards that contained positive content more comforting than Germans did. In Studies 2a and 2b, to examine whether these culture-specific conceptualizations of a comforting response would generalize to how people conceptualize a compassionate face, 118 Americans and 80 Germans selected stimuli that most resembled a compassionate (or happy) face using a reverse correlation task. As predicted, people's mental representation of a compassionate face contained more happiness/less sadness in an American than German context. Across studies, ANA partially mediated the cultural differences. This research demonstrates that responses that are intended to be compassionate might not be considered equally compassionate and comforting across cultures, which has implications for relief efforts, which are often organized internationally. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).