Exploring the impact of a compassion-focused therapy training course on healthcare educators

Raynor, G; Beaumont, EA; McAndrew, SL; Irons, C

Abstract

Background:
Stress, and particularly burnout, is a contemporary issue among
healthcare workers and can lead to high staff turnover and low
patient/client satisfaction.
Objective:
To explore the impact of a three-day Compassion Focused Therapy
training course on those delivering education to healthcare students. The
underpinning premise was that the training course could potentially be
replicated through the participants work with students embarking on a
career within the helping professions.
Design:
This was a mixed methods study, the qualitative findings being
presented in this paper.
Setting:
The training course was delivered in one higher education institution in
England.
Methods:
In total 44 healthcare lecturers attended the course, with 6 taking part in
the focus group.
Findings:
Qualitative findings identified four themes: Reassurance and increased
knowledge; Increased compassion towards self and others and Blocks to
compassion.
Conclusion:
Findings from the focus group enhanced the previous quantitative
research findings. The evidence generated demonstrated that
participants who undertook the training were able to re-engage with their compassionate self and consider the importance of showing
compassion towards self and others in healthcare education.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Mar 23, 2021
• Online Publication Date: Apr 25, 2021
• Publication Date: Oct 1, 2021
• Deposit Date: Mar 23, 2021
• Publicly Available Date: Mar 23, 2021
• Journal: Health Education Journal
• Print ISSN: 0017-8969
• Electronic ISSN: 1748-8176
• Publisher: SAGE Publications
• Volume: 80
• Issue: 6
• Pages: 712-723
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/00178969211008484
• Publisher URL: https://doi.org/10.1177/00178969211008484
• Related Public URLs: http://www.uk.sagepub.com/journalsProdDesc.nav?prodId=Journal201777