Yoga and mindfulness program: the effects on compassion fatigue and compassion satisfaction in social workers
- Author:
- GREGORY Amber
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Religion and Spirituality in Social Work, 34(4), 2015, pp.372-393.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
- Place of publication:
- Philadelphia, USA
This article is reporting the effectiveness of a yoga and mindfulness programme to decrease compassion fatigue and to increase compassion satisfaction in currently employed social workers by using a quasi-experimental design. Additionally, the qualitative arm of this study evaluated the social workers’ perception of their professional relationship with their clients. Eleven social workers participated in the study, with six in the control group and five in the experiment group. Quantitative results were gained by utilising the ProQOL Version 5 that measures the levels of compassion satisfaction, burnout, and secondary traumatic stress. These results suggest that participation in a brief yoga and mindfulness programme may halt the decrease of compassion satisfaction. The qualitative results provide a rich insight into the perceptions of the professional relationship that the social workers have with clients that they identified as being difficult to work with. These results suggest that participation in a yoga and mindfulness programme will improve these perceptions. (Edited publisher abstract)
- Subject terms:
- stress, social workers, wellbeing, complementary therapies, professional role, social worker-service user relationships, mindfulness;
- Content type:
- research
- Location(s):
- United States
- Link:
- Journal home page
- ISSN online:
- 1542 6440
- ISSN print:
- 1542 6432