Burnout, Secondary Traumatic Stress, and Compassion Satisfaction of Military Officers Responding to COVID-19

ABSTRACT

Purpose@#The purpose of this study was to identify individual and occupational factors influencing burnout, secondary traumatic stress, and compassion satisfaction in military officers who experienced supporting civilians in responding to COVID-19. @*Methods@#This descriptive study was conducted on 140 special forces’ military officers who experienced responding to disasters within 3 months. Data were collected through an online survey from September to November 2021. @*Results@#The mean scores for burnout, secondary traumatic stress, and compassion satisfaction were 21.67±6.03, 20.54±8.21, and 39.72±8.12 out of 50, respectively. The significant factors that influenced burnout and secondary traumatic stress were ‘higher passive stress copying styles’ (B=0.17, p<.001; B=0.31, p=<.001, respectively) and ‘lower social support (B=-0.11, p=.031; B=-0.10, p=.001, respectively). The compassion satisfaction was more significantly associated with ‘higher self-efficacy’ (B=0.37, p=<.001), ‘higher active stress copying styles’ (B=0.19, p=.006), and ‘education responding to disasters’ (B=2.04, p=.029). @*Conclusion@#The results suggest that the strategies to increase social support, self-efficacy, and active stress coping styles should be considered in developing educational programs for military officers responding to disasters to minimize burnout, secondary traumatic stress and to improve compassion satisfaction.