Personal and Contextual Factors That May Influence Compassion Fatigue As Experienced By Counselors Practicing In Nairobi, Kenya

Compassion fatigue occurs when counsellorsamong other health professionals begin to experience the pain and suffering of the people whom they serve. Although there is substantial literature supporting that, people who work with trauma clients are impacted positively and negatively, most of the studies have focused on the positive impact of work and the qualitative evidence is inconsistent. Further, most research has been conducted outside Kenya and most of the research has been carried out immediately after a traumatic event. This research study sought to investigate the presence of compassion fatigue and identify the personal and contextual factors that may influence compassion fatigue as experienced by a group of counsellors working in different environments in Nairobi, Kenya. A sample of 106 counsellors with different levels of training and working in diverse settings participated voluntarily. The research used the professional quality of life (Proqol) model to provide a theoretical understanding of the development of compassion fatigue. A self-administered questionnaire developed using The Professional Quality of Life Scale (version 5) to assess compassion fatigue, collect demographics and other pertinent information was used. The results show that 50.2 % of the counsellors surveyed were satisfied with their work, while 25.5 % had compassion fatigue. Female counsellorshad slightly elevated levels of compassion fatigue compared to the males. This study therefore, shows that it is normal for counsellors to have negative feelings towards their clients but it does not in any way minimize the satisfaction they also experience from helping.