The Effects of Compassion Fatigue Among ChildWelfare Workers

Background: Research has shown that compassion fatigue (CF) is a state of physical and emotional exhaustion in which workers empathize with their clients' suffering. CF has been found to impact child welfare workers, leading to high turnover rates, multiple placement changes for foster children and youth, and burnout. The knowledge gap is that limited research has been conducted to examine the effects of CF among child welfare workers. Objective: This systematic review proposes synthesizing the literature on compassion fatigue among child welfare workers' overall well-being. Methods: The following database was used: One Search, Google Scholar, and PubMed. The keywords include (“compassion fatigue" or “secondary traumatic stress”), "mental health," "burnout," and "social workers." For inclusion in this systematic review, we systematically reviewed published English articles from 2014 to 2024.