March 17, 2010 – The Wisconsin State Public Defender is participating in a study of compassion fatigue on lawyers and support staff. The State Bar of Wisconsin Lawyers Assistance Program (WisLAP) will use the results to develop training materials and techniques to benefit lawyers and law office staff across practice areas and environments. The results of this initiative will be shared with legal professionals in Wisconsin and across the nation.
Compassion fatigue – sometimes known as secondary trauma – has been characterized as the “cumulative physical, emotional and psychological effects of being continually exposed to traumatic stories or events when working in a helping capacity.” Symptoms of compassion fatigue can include heightened stress levels, disturbed sleep, irritability, pessimism, and isolation. Primary risk factors include working in an environment with high demands but limited resources coupled with ongoing exposure to traumatic material.
The study is being conducted by Dr. Andrew Levin, medical director of the Westchester Jewish Community Services, Westchester, N.Y., and Linda Albert, State Bar of Wisconsin WisLAP coordinator.
Although compassion fatigue has been extensively studied in first responders, social workers, nurses, doctors, and therapists who work with trauma victims, researchers have only recently begun to examine the impact on legal professionals. Data show lawyers who do criminal, juvenile, or family law seem especially vulnerable to its effects. These earlier lawyer-related studies, however, suffer from small study group size and other factors that limit the reliability of the results.
The SPD previously indicated to Albert an interest in minimizing the effects of compassion fatigue on its staff. As the design for this survey took shape, Albert invited the SPD to participate in the study because: 1) it provides a powerful sample pool of more than 600 subjects with centralized administration; 2) the SPD offices are statewide; and 3) the subjects represent several groupings – attorneys, investigators, client service specialists, administrators, and support staff. These factors permit deeper comparisons related to discipline and exposure and demographic and personal characteristics that can be extrapolated to benefit lawyers generally.
In a letter to staff urging participation, Peter Anderson of the SPD Training Division, wrote, “We are participating in this study because we want to be able to develop materials, protocols, and training to help staff deal with the difficult subject matter we work with every day. … We intend to provide education about what compassion fatigue is, how to protect yourself, and how to mitigate its effects if you are experiencing difficulties related to the subject matter we deal with.” The study was distributed to 642 SPD employees in February.
After SPD staff complete the survey, Albert will visit regional offices to provide training on understanding and mitigating compassion fatigue. Following training, SPD staff will repeat the survey at regular intervals over the next 18 to 24 months. The study is designed to gauge levels of compassion fatigue among all subjects and to provide a unique opportunity to measure the impact of training on reducing compassion fatigue and burnout. The goal is to characterize responses over time and in response to a training program along with administrative oversight to reduce the negative impacts of the work on all staff.
Because the training and repeat surveys will be conducted in intervals, the final analysis may not be available until 2012, at which time Levin and Albert will report the results of their work.
The study: A convergence of interests
The study is a result of a serendipitous convergence of interests and events, says Albert. Levin, who previously conducted a smaller study on lawyer compassion fatigue, contacted her after reading an article she wrote on the topic for the winter/spring 2009 issue of Wisconsin Defender. Within months, Levin and his associates agreed to provide, without compensation, the research design and proposal and analysis and report. Albert secured SPD participation and will provide ongoing training. The results of the study will be used to benefit State Bar members across practice areas and settings. In addition, training tools developed in response to the study results may be used as a model to benefit lawyers nationwide.
The State Bar is collecting the online survey responses and treating each response with the same confidentiality that all WisLAP contacts receive. A research psychologist working with Levin in New York will analyze the results and no individual will be identified or identifiable. For more information about the project, please contact Linda Albert, WisLAP coordinator, at (800) 444-9404, ext. 6172, or lalbert@wisbar.org.
• Related: Give ‘til it hurts’: Legal professionals worn down by ‘compassion fatigue’ (April 15, 2009, InsideTrack)
