Investigating Correlates of Home Visitor Burnout, Compassion Fatigue, and Compassion Satisfaction in New York State: Implications for Home Visiting Workforce Development and Sustainability.

Introduction: Home visitor well-being is integral to delivering effective home visiting services and a core component of successful home visiting program implementation. While burnout (BO), compassion fatigue (CF), and compassion satisfaction (CS) have been studied extensively in physicians, nurses, and other health providers, little is known about the correlates of these phenomena in home visitors. Methods: This cross-sectional study examined demographic characteristics (age, race, gender), health and personal experiences (anxiety, physical health, and adverse childhood experiences), and job-related factors (caseload, role certainty, job satisfaction) as correlates of BO, CF and CS among a sample of 75 home visitors employed across six MIECHV-funded agencies in New York State. Descriptive statistics were used to characterize our sample; linear regressions were employed to investigate correlates with outcomes of interest. Results: Anxiety was significantly and positively associated with BO (β = 2.5, p < 0.01) and CF (β = 3.08, p < 0.01). Overall job satisfaction was significantly and inversely associated with BO only (β = -0.11, p < 0.001). Participants who identified as white were less likely to report higher levels of CS relative to non-white counterparts (β = -4.65, p = 0.014). Examinations of specific aspects of job satisfaction revealed significant associations between satisfaction with workplace operating conditions, nature of the work, and contingent rewards and select outcomes of interest. Discussion: Prioritizing preventive measures that target correlates of BO and CF, such as higher levels of anxiety and lower levels of job satisfaction – particularly operating conditions – may improve workforce well-being, continuity of service delivery, and ultimately quality of care provided to clients. Significance: What is known about this subject? Burnout (BO) and compassion fatigue (CF) pose serious threats to the home visiting workforce and quality of service delivery. Little is known about the relationships between demographic characteristics, health, child adversity, and job-related factors and outcomes of BO, CF, and compassion satisfaction (CS). What this study adds? Anxiety was significantly and positively associated with BO and CF. Job satisfaction was inversely associated with CF. Satisfaction with operating conditions was inversely correlated with BO and CF, suggesting that interventions that address organizational-level operating procedures may reduce risk of BO and CF in home visitors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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