{"id":433,"date":"2023-01-26T08:41:40","date_gmt":"2023-01-26T16:41:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/teaching-in-dornsife\/?page_id=433"},"modified":"2023-02-06T15:08:18","modified_gmt":"2023-02-06T23:08:18","slug":"blog-post-70","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/teaching-in-dornsife\/faculty-blog\/blog-post-70\/","title":{"rendered":"Compassion Fatigue"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n \n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
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Why Zoom isn\u2019t the only reason we\u2019re feeling exhausted<\/em><\/h5>\n

By Amber Foster, Assistant (Teaching) Professor, The Writing Program – March 30, 2021<\/strong><\/p>\n

Since the start of the spring semester, I\u2019ve noticed an uptick in posts like these in my social media feeds[1]:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Their words resonate with me. In my small, seminar-style classes, I have the advantage of having more one-on-one time with students. I work closely with them to help them improve their writing, which means checking in with them regularly to see how they\u2019re doing.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

During these conferences, students have confessed to feeling the impacts of our protracted state of uncertainty. Many talk to me of mental health issues; anxiety and depression are common. I\u2019ve been told of deaths of family and friends due to complications of COVID-19. Three of my students contracted the virus and spent ten days Zooming in to class from quarantine. Thankfully, none became seriously ill, but the isolation took a toll. It was hard to concentrate, they said. There was no one to talk to, nowhere they could go. My international students tell me they\u2019re still not sure when they\u2019ll be able to get their visas and start their real college lives. And there have been other traumas, ones too personal to recount here.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I do what I can to keep an upbeat attitude and show my students that I care. When they\u2019ve been absent, I check in. In conference, I listen. Whenever appropriate, I refer students to campus resources. After each of these conversations, however, I feel a little more drained, a little more helpless. As the semester has worn on, it\u2019s become more difficult to maintain my characteristic optimism. I live in fear that my capacity for empathy is wearing thin.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I know I\u2019m not alone in feeling this way.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Indeed, there has been growing concern about the role of compassion fatigue in faculty burnout, particularly since the onset of the pandemic. For example, in a recent study of compassion fatigue in higher education, psychologist Millie Cordaro found that compassion for students in a time of crisis may come at the expense of faculty well being. She notes that:<\/p>\n

\nAs faculty continue to practice varying degrees of social distancing around the world, they are also managing additional personal responsibilities: home-schooling children; added household chores; sharing home-based workspace with a spouse or partner; worrying over the health and well-being of aging parents and family members; or struggling with self-isolation. The pandemic has potentially affected faculty by compounding routine, job-related stressors with their students\u2019 own traumas (18).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The \u201csecondary traumas\u201d (19) resulting from empathetic concern can subsequently impact mental health, productivity, and work-life balance.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Health care providers are already well-versed in this problem, and many of the online resources about compassion fatigue are aimed at those for whom compassion is a prerequisite for the job. Online advice ranges from connecting with a mental health care provider to incorporating self-compassion and self-care activities into one\u2019s daily routine.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I don\u2019t profess to have all the answers; I suspect we\u2019ll be studying the lingering impacts of the pandemic on higher education for years to come. To be honest, I find it difficult to incorporate even the most well-meaning of self-care advice into my daily routine. After a trying day of online teaching, I am far more likely to eat a cookie and descend into the Netflix wormhole than to sit and practice \u201cloving-kindness\u201d meditation, as some experts recommend (Cordaro 21). Yet I do find the advice about seeking out social support useful, as I\u2019m fortunate to have a circle of friends and colleagues, both online and off, that I can call upon to commiserate with.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Sharing our compassion fatigue may help us to understand that occasionally distancing ourselves from our students\u2019 concerns doesn\u2019t make us bad people, or bad instructors. We must continue to show compassion for our students, without forgetting to save some for ourselves.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[1] Excerpted anonymously, with permission from the authors.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Further Reading<\/h4>\n

Cordaro, Millie. \u201cPouring from an Empty Cup: The Case for Compassion Fatigue in Higher Education.\u201d Building Healthy Academic Communities Journal, vol. 4, no. 2, The Ohio State University Libraries, 2020, pp. 17\u201328, doi:10.18061\/bhac.v4i2.7618.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Pettit, Emma. \u201cFaculty Members are Suffering Burnout. These Strategies Could Help.\u201d The Chronicle of Higher Education, 25 February 2021, www.chronicle.com\/article\/faculty-members-are-suffering-burnout-so-some-colleges-have-used-these-strategies-to-help.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Zackal, Justin. \u201cOvercoming Burnout and Compassion Fatigue in Higher Education.\u201d Higher Ed Jobs, 9 January 2020, www.higheredjobs.com\/Articles\/articleDisplay.cfm?ID=2117.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n <\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":260,"featured_media":0,"parent":220,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-433","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nCompassion Fatigue - Teaching at Dornsife<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/teaching-in-dornsife\/faculty-blog\/blog-post-70\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Compassion Fatigue - 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