Skydds- och riskfaktorer för empatitrötthet bland socialarbetare – En litteraturstudie

Sammanfattning: Social work is characterized by work with people who are vulnerable or traumatized which requires the professional to have an empathic ability. However, there are signs that the empathic approach and the social workers' close work with traumatized people can lead to stress and result in a negative physical and psychological impact, like empathy fatigue. The aim of this study was to compile an overview of the current state of research over factors that can protect against or constitute a risk for empathy fatigue among social workers. This literature study was inspired by a systematic approach and was based on fourteen scientific articles, which were analyzed with thematic content analysis. The analysis showed that at the individual level, the risk factors were attachment anxiety, own traumatic experiences, being female, and younger employees, as well as the empathic ability. The empathic ability is however paradoxical for social workers and seems to represent both protection and risk for the development of empathy fatigue. The cognitive aspect of empathy appears to be protective and influence other protective factors such as emotion regulation and boundary setting. At the organizational level, protective factors were adequate supervision, collegial support, and awareness of empathy fatigue. However, it is also important that organizations prevent what could constitute risk factors, which were large workloads and extensive exposure to traumatized clients, among other things. A common factor that emerged at both the individual level and the organizational level was the importance of knowledge and competence.