The Cost of Caring: Compassion Fatigue among Parents of Children with Special Needs

Abstract

Caregiving also has its tolls on caregivers. One of this may be compassion fatigue. Compassion fatigue is a consequence of caring for individuals who are in need or suffering which may affect the caregiver physically, emotionally, mentally, and socially. While the characteristics of compassion fatigue have been studied extensively among health care professionals, recent studies suggest that this phenomenon may also be applicable to informal or family caregivers. Given this, the study focused on the applicability, characteristics, and level of compassion fatigue among parents of children with special needs. The purpose of the study was to determine the socio – demographic profile of parents of children with special needs. It also aimed to determine the risk factors and the role of socio cultural contexts in the development of compassion fatigue among these parents, its consequences, and how they cope with it. Thirty – four parents who accompany their child for therapy sessions in two out of the three main therapy centers in Lipa City, Batangas, participated in the study. The researcher used an Exploratory Sequential Mixed Methods, combining the use of surveys for the quantitative part and semi-structured interviews among five parents for the qualitative part. Descriptive statistical analysis, Pearson Product Moment Correlation, and content analysis were used to analyze the data. The results showed that majority of the parent respondents are female (N=30 or 88.2%) within the 30 – 39 age range. Out of the thirty - four respondents, 30 (88.2%) are married, and more than half (N = 20 or 58.8%) are unemployed. In addition, majority of them have a high economic status, with a monthly income of 40,001 or above. Based on the mean scores per domain and the overall scale, parents of children with special needs have a low to moderate level of compassion fatigue. This level may be attributed to the use of moderators of parents to stop or prevent the development of compassion fatigue such as the parents’ acceptance of the situation, faith, motivation to support the child, having positive thinking, and help and support from others. Moreover, there is a significant negative correlation between age of the respondents and the level of compassion fatigue. Competing life demands like financial resources, and the physical, emotional, and social well – being of the parents are among the risk factors and consequences of compassion fatigue respectively, Being a parent together with the demands and social expectations attached to it, especially being a mother, play a huge role in dealing with this caregiving situation.