DIGEST - Volume 9, Issue 4- FULL DIGEST

5 TPC Digest S cholars define compassion fatigue as an occupational hazard for individuals working to help others with challenging life experiences. The concept of compassion fatigue is different from burnout and secondary traumatic stress, as compassion fatigue is a combination of both concepts. Individuals may experience compassion fatigue when there is a lack of knowledge, skillset, and support. It also occurs when an individual continuously hears painful and traumatic stories of others and neglects self-care. At such times, individuals start noticing some impacts of these painful stories on their own lives. If these affected individuals are not familiar with the concept of compassion fatigue, then they may not know how to deal with it. Counselors-in-training (CITs) are graduate students enrolled in an internship course during their training to become a professional counselor. CITs can be an example of a vulnerable group for compassion fatigue because they may not be fully equipped to work with clients with complicated stories. As these students are still in the process of acquiring the required skills to work as a counselor, CITs also may not know how to prevent symptoms of compassion fatigue. Additionally, CITs may not know what they are going through and what may contribute to worsening the impact of compassion fatigue. In this manuscript, we explain what compassion fatigue is along with some predictors of the condition. If we know the level at which each variable contributes to someone’s compassion fatigue, then we could focus on the variables that have higher influence on compassion fatigue to prevent early onset. Therefore, in this study, we chose four independent variables (empathy, supervisory support, resilience, and wellness) and one dependent variable (compassion fatigue) and examined the relationship between these variables. Then, we used valid and reliable measures to assess each of these variables concerning compassion fatigue among CITs. Once we recruited enough participants, we analyzed our data by using a hierarchical linear regression analysis. The findings of this study indicated that empathy and supervisory working alliance do not predict compassion fatigue among CITs; however, resilience and wellness were found to be significant predictors. In terms of empathy, the literature provides conflicted results about the relationship between empathy and compassion fatigue. Regarding the relationship between supervisory working alliance and compassion fatigue, we thought that CITs may not develop a need for supervisory support yet because these students are at the beginning of their professional careers as counselors. However, in terms of resilience and wellness, our findings revealed that the levels of resilience and wellness of CITs were related to their level of compassion fatigue. In other words, if counselor educators and supervisors help CITs to increase their levels of wellness and resilience, CITs’ level of compassion fatigue will drop. As a result, we suggest counselor educators and supervisors help CITs with enhancing their levels of resilience and wellness through various interventions and fruitful discussions. Further, we hope that the implications of the current study help CITs start their professional careers better prepared to provide their clients with the optimal care needed throughout the counseling relationship by minimizing compassion fatigue. Nesime Can is an instructor at Ankara University in Turkey. Joshua C. Watson, NCC, is a professor and department chair at Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi. Correspondence can be addressed to Nesime Can, Ankara University Faculty of Educational Sciences, Department of Educational Sciences, Program of Counseling and Guidance, Office 3111, Çankaya, Ankara, Turkey 06590, nesime.can@ankara.edu.tr. 5 | Individual and Relational Predictors of Compassion Fatigue Among Counselors-in-Training Nesime Can, Joshua C. Watson