The Predictive Role of Age and Gender in the Development of Compassion Fatigue among Health Care Professions in Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital Eldoret – Kenya

Abstract

Compassion fatigue is a condition unique to the human service occupations, characterized by a state of tension and preoccupation with the traumatized clients by re-experiencing traumatic events. With increased incidences of traumatic events both nationally and globally, the greater burden of care and after-care is usually borne by health care professionals. The objective of the study was to determine the predictive role of Age and Gender in the development of compassion fatigue among health care professionals in Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital (MTRH). The independent variables were Age and Gender as predictors while Compassion Fatigue was the dependent variable. Figley Model of Compassion Fatigue and Ex Post Facto research design were used. The target population was health care professionals in Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital. Simple random sampling technique was used and a sample of 82 health care professionals (19, Doctors 54 Nurses and 9 Counselors) was selected. Data was collected using demographic questionnaires and the “Professional Quality of Life Scale (ProQoL) version V”. Data analysis was done using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS - version 20.0). Analysis involved descriptive statistics, regression, analysis of variance (ANOVA) and t-tests. All the inferential statistics were tested at 0.05 level of significance. Results: Female health care professionals had higher compassion fatigue scores (20.9) compared to their male counterparts whose mean scores were 19.7 while on age younger health care professional 20-30 years had a higher compassion fatigue mean score (20.7) compared to respondents who were in the 31-40 years category whose mean scores (19.7) and 19.1 for respondents above 50 years. Approval was obtained from Moi University, IREC and NACOSTI. Findings indicated that age and gender are positively correlated to Compassion Fatigue. The study recommends that health care professionals be sensitized on compassion fatigue prevention and management to ensure wellness.