Assessing Teaching Compassion, Work Engagement and Compassion Fatigue Among Teachers During the Pandemic

Abstract

Introduction: Teachers’ mental health is an imperative aspect in ensuring their appropriate cognition, behaviors and perception. Studies have reported mixed results on work engagement and compassion fatigue among employees in different time and cultures. This study assesses and examines the correlation between Chinese teachers’ work engagement and compassion fatigue during the pandemic. Methods: An online questionnaire was designed through a Chinese data collection platform (Credamo), and the sample of 3147 teachers in Zhejiang province (China) completed the survey online. The Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES) was used to measure teachers’ work engagement (WE), while the Professional Quality of Life Scale version 5 (ProQoL-5) was used to measure teachers’ compassion fatigue (CF). SPSS 25, PROCESS Macro of SPSS, and JASP were used to analyze the data. Results: The results indicated a negative correlation between teachers’ work engagement and compassion fatigue in general, while particularly, vigor, dedication, and absorption negatively correlated with burnout (r = −0.370, r = −0.243, and r = −0.220 respectively), but positively correlating with secondary traumatic stress (r = 0.489, r = 0.343, and r = 0.319). Discussion: Teachers’ working experience positively correlates with their work engagement but negatively correlates with their compassion fatigue. Conclusion: Teachers’ work engagement (ie, dedication) is important in reducing compassion fatigue and maintaining compassion satisfaction.