CT CT Self-Care & Compassion Fatigue 1 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Compassion fatigue in thanatology professionals is best defined as:
- Fatigue caused by working excessive night shifts in hospice settings
- Emotional and physical exhaustion resulting from prolonged empathic engagement with grieving clients (Correct answer)
- A clinical form of complicated grief experienced by counselors
- Burnout caused primarily by administrative workload and documentation
Correct answer: Emotional and physical exhaustion resulting from prolonged empathic engagement with grieving clients
Compassion fatigue is the cumulative emotional and physical exhaustion arising from the ongoing empathic cost of caring for individuals who are suffering.
Question 2: The term 'secondary traumatic stress' was coined by which researcher?
- Elisabeth Kübler-Ross
- Charles Figley (Correct answer)
- William Worden
- Colin Murray Parkes
Correct answer: Charles Figley
Charles Figley coined secondary traumatic stress to describe trauma symptoms in helping professionals caused by indirect exposure to clients' traumatic experiences.
Question 3: Which of the following is a PRIMARY symptom of compassion fatigue in grief professionals?
- Increased empathy and deepened emotional engagement with clients
- Emotional numbness, detachment, and reduced capacity for empathy (Correct answer)
- Heightened professional satisfaction and sense of purpose
- Improved work-life balance and reduced personal stress
Correct answer: Emotional numbness, detachment, and reduced capacity for empathy
Emotional numbness and detachment are hallmark symptoms as the professional's empathic capacity becomes depleted through cumulative exposure to client suffering.
Question 4: Vicarious trauma, as distinct from compassion fatigue, refers specifically to:
- Being directly traumatized by witnessing a violent death
- Cumulative transformation of the helper's worldview and cognitive schemas from exposure to clients' traumatic material (Correct answer)
- Physical illness contracted through close contact with grieving clients
- Financial and career stress from working in underfunded grief services
Correct answer: Cumulative transformation of the helper's worldview and cognitive schemas from exposure to clients' traumatic material
Vicarious trauma involves a fundamental, lasting shift in the helper's cognitive schemas, worldview, and sense of meaning from repeated exposure to traumatic client narratives.
Question 5: Which assessment tool is commonly used to measure compassion satisfaction and compassion fatigue in helping professionals?
- Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI)
- ProQOL (Professional Quality of Life Scale) (Correct answer)
- DSM-5 Diagnostic Criteria for PTSD
- Grief Experience Inventory
Correct answer: ProQOL (Professional Quality of Life Scale)
The ProQOL measures compassion satisfaction, burnout, and secondary traumatic stress across three subscales designed specifically for helping professionals.
Question 6: The phrase 'the cost of caring' is associated with which concept in grief and helping professions?
- Financial burnout in private grief counseling practice
- Compassion fatigue as described by Charles Figley (Correct answer)
- The expense of funeral and memorial services
- Training and certification costs in thanatology
Correct answer: Compassion fatigue as described by Charles Figley
Charles Figley used 'the cost of caring' as an alternative description for compassion fatigue, reflecting the emotional price helpers pay for sustained empathic engagement.
CT CT Self-Care & Compassion Fatigue 1
Compassion fatigue in thanatology professionals is best defined as: