Compassion Fatigue and Self-care Strategies among Houseparents of Residential Care Facilities for Children

Abstract

Houseparents in residential care facilities for children should establish meaningful relationships and provide stability to rehabilitate the children under their care successfully. However, they often experience compassion fatigue leading to the loss of compassion if they do not adopt self-care strategies early. Thus, this study examined the level of compassion fatigue and the degree of coping strategies among the 20 house parents of different residential care children in Bacolod City. The standardized questionnaire used to gather data was subjected to validation and reliability tests to ensure contextualized validity. Results showed that, according to sex, the male houseparents showed a low level of compassion fatigue, whereas the female houseparents showed a moderate level of compassion fatigue. In terms of age, both groups showed a moderate level. In the degree of coping strategies, both males and females had a high degree of coping with compassion fatigue. The results also showed no significant relationship between the level of compassion fatigue and the degree of coping strategies when the respondents were grouped according to age and sex. These results suggest that regardless of the houseparents’ age and sex, they feel compassion fatigue due to the distressed situation of the children under their care. Results likewise show that despite the coping strategies they employ, the eventual possibility of experiencing stress over the children’s situations persists. Thus, the researchers recommend training and seminars to enhance the houseparents’ self-care strategies.