Can Empathy Protect You from Burnout?
A recent study has found that empathy can actually help eliminate the high rates of burnout among police officers that work with rape victims.
The study, published in Traumatology, found that the officers that reported higher levels of empathy on a survey actually had a lower level of burnout than those that hardened themselves.
The effects of this finding are even further reaching, though — it was found that victims of traumatic crimes were much more likely to proceed with the prosecution process if the investigating officers showed a greater level of involvement and caring.
These findings could prove to be invaluable to other industries whether they deal with trauma regularly or not.
As part of the study, the researchers also included a brief training program designed to educate officers about how to recognize signs of stress, burnout, and compassion fatigue, as well as various self-help strategies, such as their social network, mindfulness, and other self-care techniques.
