Who takes care of the burden of emotions in palliative care workers? A study with the job demands-resources perspective

Background: This study aims to investigate the risks and challenges that palliative care workers face in their daily work and their relationships with a source of stress typically associated with working closely with end-of-life issues: compassion fatigue, a condition of emotional exhaustion, cynicism, and impaired ability to feel empathy. The Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) model was used as a theoretical framework to understand and interpret the relationships between individual and work demands and resources of palliative care professionals with their perceptions of well-being and their levels of compassion fatigue. Specifically, we focused on surface acting (the need to manipulate the expression of one's real emotions), emotional self-efficacy, and the perceived meaningfulness attributed to work. We hypothesized that compassion fatigue was positively related to job demand and negatively related to job resources. Conversely, we hypothesized that perceived well-being was positively associated with job resources and negatively associated with job demand. Methods: The sample consisted of 236 palliative care workers (physicians, nurses, social and health workers, psychologists) from facilities distributed throughout Italy. The structural equation modeling (SEM) technique was used. Results: The results confirmed the hypothesized protective role of the meaningfulness of work and emotional self-efficacy, and the detrimental role of surface acting. Conclusions: With the present study, we aim to contribute to a better understanding of how to support the psychological and physical well-being of those who devote their professional lives to providing care and comfort to terminally ill individuals.