Occupational stress amongst audiologists: Compassion satisfaction, compassion fatigue, and burnout

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to investigate occupational stress amongst audiologists, along with quantification of their professional quality of life: Burnout, compassion fatigue, and compassion satisfaction. DESIGN: A cross-sectional postal survey research design using an audiology occupational stress questionnaire (AOSQ), and the professional quality of life (ProQOL) instrument. STUDY SAMPLE: The sample consisted of members of the New Zealand Audiological Society. One hundred and forty-five questionnaires were mailed, 82 responses were received. RESULTS: The main findings suggest that six stress factors dominate clinical audiology: (1) time demand, (2) audiological management, (3) patient contact, (4) clinical protocol, (5) patient accountability, and (6) administration or equipment. A significant relationship was found between increasing age of the audiologist and risk of acquiring burnout (chi-square (1)=6.119, p<0.05). Pearson's correlation's revealed time demand was the strongest predictor of low compassion satisfaction (r=0.327) and burnout (r=0.463), while stress associated with patient contact was the strongest predictor of compassion fatigue (r=0.352). CONCLUSIONS: This study identifies sources of stress for clinical audiologists and different factors that contribute to professional quality of life.