Influence of compassion fatigue, psychological stress and positive psychological capital on overall happiness of firefighters / 中国职业医学

ABSTRACT

Objective: To study the relationship between compassion fatigue and overall happiness among firefighters, and the mediating role of psychological stress and positive psychological capital. Methods: A total of 894 firefighters in Shandong Province were selected as the research subjects using purposive sampling method. Questionnaires including the Professional Quality of Life Scale, the Military Psychological Stress Self-Assessment Scale, the Positive Psychological Capital Scale, and the Overall Happiness Scale were used for data collection. Results: The scores of compassion fatigue, psychological stress, positive psychological capital and overall happiness among firefighters were (40.1±13.5), (13.9±3.9), (133.0±26.4) and (84.9±15.2), respectively. There were correlations between compassion fatigue, psychological stress, positive psychological capital and overall happiness (all P<0.01). Psychological stress partially mediated the relationship between compassion fatigue and overall happiness, and the mediating effect accounted for 27.0% of the total effect. Positive psychological capital moderated the front half path and the direct path between compassion fatigue and overall happiness (all P<0.01). Conclusion: Compassion fatigue can directly or indirectly affect the firefighters' overall happiness. Psychological stress plays a partial mediating role and positive psychological capital plays a moderating role between compassion fatigue and overall happiness.