Date of Conferral

2021

Degree

Ph.D.

School

Psychology

Advisor

Tony Hobson

Abstract

AbstractThe African American community tends to stigmatize mental health services and is underrepresented in both client and therapist populations. Retention of African American mental health professionals (MHPs) may mitigate distrust in these services, allowing more individuals to seek out counseling. The purpose of this nonexperimental survey study was to investigate if compassion fatigue, burnout, or compassion satisfaction can predict intended attrition rates in African American MHPs. Constructivist self-development theory was employed to predict both resiliency and the potential adverse effects of listening to client narratives of 99 African American MHPs with a variety of mental health credentials. Stepwise multiple regression was used with compassion fatigue, compassion satisfaction, and burnout as the predictor variables, and attrition intention as the dependent variable. The only significant predictor of attrition intention was burnout. Compassion fatigue was not a predictor of attrition intention, and compassion satisfaction decreased attrition intention. These findings may suggest resiliency, that the African American MHPs in the sample were satisfied with their jobs. However, over time, if they were not engaging in protective factors a lack of self-care could lead to burnout. These findings may impact positive social change by drawing attention to the importance of self-care practices in African American MHPs. Burnout is a phenomenon that happens over time that can be prevented. The prevention of burnout can increase retention in the MHP community, allowing the opportunity for ethnic representation for the African American community to see someone like themselves when seeking mental health services.

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