Relationship between Altruism, Compassion Fatigue and Psychological Wellbeing among Psychologists: Moderating Role of Resilience

Altruism, the act of selflessly doing well for others, is widely encouraged, praised and appreciated by each aspect or sector of society, from religion to institutions. However its impact on individuals, particularly in relation to compassion fatigue which can be termed as overburdening oneself from caring of others or by the desire to help others remains underexplored. The effects of altruism on psychological well-being, which is expressed as an overall satisfaction with your emotional aspects, personal growth and development, are also seldom discussed. This study was designed to explore the association between altruism, compassion fatigue and psychological wellbeing along with the moderating role of resilience which is the individual`s capacity to fight back, face hardships and find ways to adopt to the new events and conditions.  A total of 80 psychologists working at different public and private settings participated in the study with an equal distribution of male and female participants A purposive sampling technique was utilized to select a sample of participants from different autism and rehabilitation centers along with hospital and private settings. The participants were administered measures assessing altruism, compassion fatigue, psychological wellbeing and resilience. Generative Altruism Scale, Compassion Fatigue Inventory, Short Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale and Brief Resilience Scale were used for this purpose. The results suggest that altruism have a positive association with compassion fatigue, psychological wellbeing as well as resilience. The results further indicate the role of altruism as a predictor of both compassion fatigue and psychological wellbeing. Moderating role of resilience is also established for the relationship of altruism and compassion fatigue after the analysis of the results.