How To Use a Compassion Fatigue Test to Battle Burnout
Terri Lyon
The Activist For Activists. Author of "Make a Difference with Mental Health Activism" and "The Happy Activist." Professor at Walden University. Licensed psychologist.
Are you looking for a compassion fatigue test? In this post, you can learn about compassion fatigue, burnout, and a free compassion fatigue test.
Tinea searches for and catalogs human rights violations in her area. She knows this work has an impact, as her evidence is the first step toward fighting the injustices. But hearing terrible stories and seeing pictures of beatings and other forms of violence is brutal. At first, she told herself she would get used to the violence she witnessed secondhand. But she is having trouble getting to sleep, and then, when she finally drops off, she has nightmares. She does not want to stop her work but recognizes she is experiencing significant stress.
You’ve probably heard the word burnout in the context of work. But it happens in activism, too. Burnout symptoms include fatigue, trouble concentrating, sadness, anxiety, and poor performance.
In activism, burnout is sometimes called compassion fatigue, which is the impact of serving as a helper in some way. People in helping professions, including activists, should recognize the potential effects of compassion fatigue and keep themselves emotionally healthy.
In this post, I want to highlight a free compassion fatigue test designed for helpers, and methods you can use to care for yourself.
Use This Compassion Fatigue Test to Measure Your Level of Stress
The Center for Victims of Torture offers a free, research-based compassion fatigue test called?The Professional Quality of Life Measure (ProQOL.)?It is easy to take online, and you receive your results immediately.
You get feedback on three areas:
Compassion Satisfaction
Being a helper means making a difference in other people’s lives. Knowing you have an impact is meaningful and results in satisfaction.
If you score high on compassion satisfaction, wonderful! Not only are you satisfied with your work, but a high level can also help alleviate burnout and stress.
Burnout
Burnout can result for many reasons. You are not feeling effective, working too hard, or your environment isn’t supporting your work. Burnout usually happens over time as stress accumulates.
Secondary Traumatic Stress
Some activism work, such as helping war refugees, can cause trauma. But activists can experience secondary trauma, which is stress experienced from hearing others’ trauma. This type of stress doesn’t build over time, like burnout. Instead, it is usually because of witnessing another’s trauma.
Using ProQOL
ProQOL is designed for people in helping professions, so the wording may not address activism. However, the creators of the measure suggest you tailor the wording to your situation.
As you can see in the screenshot, the words ‘help’ and ‘helper’ are in brackets. Here you can place terms that are appropriate to your work.
For example, an immigration activist might change question #3 to “I get satisfaction from being able to teach refugees how to drive.”
Burnout and compassion fatigue is common in animal welfare activists who go undercover in factory farms. Their wording on question #3 might be, “I get satisfaction from being able to show the world how animals suffer in factory farms.”
Your Results: What Now?
By comparing your scores, you can track potential burnout over time. What if your score is high? The ProQOL creator did not design it to be a diagnosis measure. But it can be a screening tool to determine if you should seek professional help. If your score is high, check in with a mental health professional.
If your score is medium level, consider changing your activism work to reduce stress. Working on the Activism Path steps focused on roles, motivation, and self-care can help.
How the 5-Step Path Helps You Avoid Burnout and Compassion Fatigue
Following the 5-Step Activism Path builds your passion into your activism. Along the way, you reflect on your skills and match those to an activism technique that motivates you. You end up with activism you love, which is a personal fit for you.
Here are the Activism Path steps that support motivation and help you avoid burnout.
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Step 1: Focus Your Passion
Narrowing your activism focus helps you develop expertise and avoid getting overwhelmed.?Find the cause closest to your heart.
Another exercise in Step 1 is examining the many roles you play. Humans cannot successfully play many roles, though; considering how to focus on the roles dearest to you will keep you satisfied. Create your list of roles and then narrow it to the five you believe are most worthy of your focus.
Step 2: Check your Personal Motivation
In Step 2 of the Activism Path, you inventory your gifts. One of those gifts is your personal motivation.?You’ll be more satisfied by building your top motivator into your activism.
Identify what motivates you most.
Step 5: Stay Motivated
In Step 5 of the Activism Path, you create goals to set yourself up for success. Goals keep you focused and motivated.
Another exercise in Step 5 is understanding how your body reacts to stress. Coping strategies such as self-care help you deal with stress before it becomes overwhelming.
Self-Care
Self-care is anything you do?on purpose?to look after your physical, mental, and spiritual well-being. Achieve wellness by balancing all aspects of your life.
It is best to practice self-care daily; the results are not evident overnight. For your chosen self-care, as with any activity, it might take months to become a habit. Don’t give up. Keep at it.
Activities that support your physical health
Activities that support your mental health
Your activism may stress you to a degree you can’t control it with coping strategies. In that case, more intense stress reduction may be necessary.
Step Back and Refocus
If, despite using coping strategies, you cannot manage your stress, look for opportunities to step back.?Taking a break is okay. Decide whether you need to refocus your activism efforts. Take time to step back and ponder how activism fits in with your life plan. This sort of self-care will make it more likely you will be an effective activist. And that means you can make the change you want to see in the world.
If you work with an activist organization, evaluate how well they meet your needs. Do they help you cope? Do they coach, mentor, and train you? Are you getting the right information and tools? Do they care about helping you meet your activism goals??One way to refocus is to negotiate changes in your work that will help you avoid stressful situations. If your organization is not meeting your needs, find one that does.
If you don’t work within an organization, what mechanisms do you have in place for learning, feedback, growth, and support?
Or perhaps you need to make a significant change. If so, go back to the Activism Path Step 1 and see what other direction your passion takes you. Work the process so you are still using your skills and knowledge, are motivated, and are making the change you want in the world.
Being an activist means making a difference for others, but you must also nurture yourself. Use the Activism Path to set yourself up in activism that you love. Monitor your stress and use a compassion fatigue test to avoid burnout and compassion fatigue.
Tinea takes the ProQOL and receives a medium-level score. Although her work gives a high level of satisfaction, she is starting to experience secondary traumatic stress. Tinea talks with her volunteer coordinator, who schedules a meeting to talk about ways Tinea can still contribute but do so in a less stressful and more satisfying way.
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This post appeared originally at Life At The Intersection.