A comparative study of compassion fatigue between selected public and private junior and senior high school educators

Teachers are considered to be in the first line of engagement and part of the helping profession as they educate students, help them with their problems, deal with tons of paperworks, and work on with other job- related responsibilities. Educators tend to be emotionally invested in teaching and guiding their students that they unknowingly become prone to compassion fatigue (CF) — experiencing symptoms of burnout, secondary traumatic stress, and declined compassion satisfaction (CS) — that may greatly affect their well-being and the quality of work they render. As there is also a limited amount of research present on CF concerning teachers, the researchers conducted a study comparing the CF categories and levels per factors between 60 public and private junior and senior high school educators. The Professional Quality of Life (ProQOL) Scale and a demographic questionnaire were administered to the 15 teachers of each selected school in order to specifically determine the high school teachers’ levels of factors contributing to CF. Results showed that Junior and Senior High School teachers may have moderate levels per factors of CF or have high levels of CS. Finally, there are no significant differences seen on the levels per factors of CF between private, public, junior high school, and senior high school teachers. These findings will be substantial to the education sector and its institutions to raise awareness and address the teachers’ welfare and condition