TPC Journal V8, Issue 1 - FULL ISSUE

68 The Professional Counselor | Volume 8, Issue 1 In terms of professional quality of life, we found that participants at pre-assessment reported moderate levels of Compassion Satisfaction (10 items; M = 41.10, SD = 5.26) and low levels of Burnout (10 items; M = 20.78, SD = 3.78) and Secondary Traumatic Stress (10 items; M = 21.14, SD = 4.14), which was similar to Lawson’s (2007) investigation which found that counselors scored lower on the Burnout and Compassion Fatigue (e.g., Secondary Traumatic Stress) dimensions and higher on the Compassion Satisfaction realm than the general population. For the post-test analysis, participants reported similar results with moderate Compassion Satisfaction (10 items; M = 42.67, SD = 4.48) and low levels of Burnout (10 items; M = 20.15, SD = 3.86) and Secondary Traumatic Stress (10 items; M = 20.86, SD = 4.12). When we assessed potential significance on the subscales between pre- and post- assessment, we found no statistically significant changes for Burnout, Compassion Satisfaction, or Secondary Traumatic Stress. It is promising that our participants showed low levels of Burnout and Secondary Traumatic Stress, as they are early in their career, and it is imperative to commence one’s helping career in a healthy way. Further, the moderate level of Compassion Satisfaction is promising as well, as CITs are entering into a helping profession and deriving satisfaction through the role of a helper, which is indicative of an optimal person–environment fit. Implications for Counselors The findings from this study have several implications for CITs and counselor educators. First, counselor educators may want to intentionally incorporate constructivist-based experiences in their courses in order to boost student engagement in their curriculum (Dillman Taylor et al., 2017; Emmett & McAuliffe, 2011; McAuliffe & Eriksen, 2011). Further, counselor educators could integrate discussions related to burnout, compassion fatigue, and compassion satisfaction throughout the counseling training program in order to support CITs’ progression from novice learner toward professional counselor. Discussing the aforementioned factors might help mitigate the occurrence of negative consequences of helping (e.g., burnout and stress), as well as help maintain or increase the moderate amount of compassion satisfaction we found in our CITs. Because wellness can mitigate the effects of burnout and other repercussions of being a helper (Blount & Lambie, 2017; Puig et al., 2012) and overall wellness translates to higher levels of professional quality of life (Lawson & Myers, 2011), CITs might benefit from assessing negative consequences of helping (e.g., burnout, stress) as well as positive results (e.g., wellness). There are several measures (both formal and informal) that could be employed to evaluate these variables in CITs. Specifically, Blount and Mullen (2015) proposed a Starfish wellness activity, in which participants can informally assess wellness areas. Further, participants could incorporate Wellness Plans (Granello & Young, 2012) into their training as another informal way of prioritizing wellness. To formally assess wellness, the Five Factor Wellness Inventory (5F-Wel; Myers & Sweeney, 2005) or the Helping Professional Wellness Discrepancy Scale (HPWDS; Blount & Lambie, 2017) could be utilized to increase overall wellness awareness and promote a healthier professional quality of life in helping professionals. Finally, as previous studies have found that exposure to constructivist-based activities can increase competence within the content area (Bjornsen et al., 2018; Dillman Taylor et al., 2017), counseling programs could incorporate assessments in a career counseling course as a way to: (a) engage CITs; (b) increase in vivo experience with assessments (i.e., learning by doing); (c) increase competence in administering and reviewing assessments; and (d) increase basic knowledge in the content area. Further, giving assessments such as the OES-S, ProQOL, and WVI could provide CITs with a look into their future lives and careers, and increase overall engagement within the course and counseling program in general.