Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2025 Apr 2:16:1522092.
doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1522092. eCollection 2025.

Compassion satisfaction and compassion fatigue in humanitarian aid workers: the relationship with shared trauma and coping mechanisms

Mohamed Adwi  1 , Nada Abdellatif  1 , Ismail Sadek  2 , Mohamed Elsheikh  2
Affiliations

Compassion satisfaction and compassion fatigue in humanitarian aid workers: the relationship with shared trauma and coping mechanisms

Mohamed Adwi et al. Front Psychol. .

Abstract

Introduction: Forced displacement constitutes a global crisis impacting millions of people especially in the Middle East, leaving them impacted by traumatic history. Humanitarian aid workers (HAWs) who support displaced individuals are exposed to high risk of burnout and secondary traumatic stress (STS).

Methods: This study aimed to identify the prevalence of compassion satisfaction (CS) and compassion fatigue (CF), referring to burnout and STS, respectively, using the Professional Quality of Life Scale (ProQOL). The study explored the relationships between these factors and personal variables that are related to shared trauma, as well as coping mechanisms assessed using the Brief-COPE questionnaire among Middle Eastern HAWs working with displaced individuals.

Results: The study involved 78 HAWs supporting displaced individuals in the Middle East. The mean age was 25.81 years (SD = ± 5.54); 55% were females, and the majority (88%) were Syrians. Approximately 90% of participants were engaged in Turkey and Syria. The most prevalent coping mechanisms were religion and planning. Being a graduate predicted burnout, whereas older age, previous mental diagnosis, and shared trauma predicted higher STS levels. Compassion satisfaction was predicted by active coping, and compassion fatigue was predicted by negative coping.

Conclusion: HAWs require education to recognize CF signs and psychological training to promote effective coping mechanisms, mitigate CF, and enhance higher levels of CS. More research is needed on the psychology of HAWs and the role of shared trauma and coping mechanisms.

Keywords: Middle East; burnout; compassion satisfaction; displacement; humanitarian aid work; secondary traumatic stress; shared trauma.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

MA, NA were employed by Shezlong Inc. The remaining authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Mean percentage of the general coping mechanisms.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Mean percentage of the specific coping mechanisms.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Abo El Nasr M., Eltaiba N. (2016). Social work in Egypt: experiences and challenges. Br. J. Educ. Soc. Behav. Sci. 16, 1–11. doi: 10.9734/BJESBS/2016/25882 - DOI
    1. Adams R. E., Boscarino J. A., Figley C. R. (2006). Compassion fatigue and psychological distress among social workers: a validation study. Am. J. Orthopsychiatry 76, 103–108. doi: 10.1037/0002-9432.76.1.103, PMID: - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Ager A., Pasha E., Yu G., Duke T., Eriksson C., Cardozo B. L. (2012). Stress, mental health, and burnout in national humanitarian aid workers in Gulu, northern Uganda. J. Trauma. Stress. 25, 713–720. doi: 10.1002/jts.21764, PMID: - DOI - PubMed
    1. Akinsulure-Smith A. M., Espinosa A., Chu T., Hallock R. (2018). Secondary traumatic stress and burnout among refugee resettlement workers: the role of coping and emotional intelligence. J. Trauma. Stress. 31, 202–212. doi: 10.1002/jts.22279, PMID: - DOI - PubMed
    1. Alghamdi M. (2020). Cross-cultural validation and psychometric properties of the arabic brief cope in Saudi population. Med. J. Malays. 75, 502–509, PMID: - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources