PURPOSE Oncologists cope with unique work characteristics that increase their risk of developing compassion fatigue-that is, burnout and secondary traumatic stress-and can result in reduced capacity and interest in being empathetic to the suffering of others (Stamm B. The concise ProQOL manual, 2010). At the same time, oncologists can experience compassion satisfaction-that is, the positive aspects of caring. This study explored the associations of compassion fatigue and compassion satisfaction with oncologists' grief and sense of failure beyond their reported exposure to suffering and death. METHODS Seventy-four oncologists completed self-administered questionnaires examining compassion fatigue, compassion satisfaction, grief, exposure to suffering and death, and sense of failure. RESULTS The oncologists reported that they face the loss of approximately 50% of their patients, and that their patients suffer from profound emotional and physical pain. High levels of compassion fatigue and grief, and moderate levels of sense of failure, were reported. Findings showed a lack of association between exposure to suffering and death and compassion fatigue and satisfaction. However, grief and sense of failure were found to predict both aspects of compassion fatigue: secondary traumatic stress (p < 0.001, p < 0.003, respectively) and burnout (p < 0.002, p < 0.025, respectively). CONCLUSIONS These results highlight the importance of the oncologists' subjective experiences of grief and sense of failure, beyond their reports of exposure to suffering and death, in terms of their levels of compassion fatigue. Implications of these findings include the need to develop interventions for oncologists that will allow them to acknowledge, process, and overcome negative experiences of failure and grief.

中文翻译：

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肿瘤科医生的同情疲劳：悲伤，失败感以及遭受痛苦和死亡的作用。

目的肿瘤学家应对独特的工作特征，这些特征会增加他们产生同情疲劳的风险（即倦怠和继发性外伤压力），并可能降低对他人的同情心的能力和兴趣（StammB。 2010）。同时，肿瘤科医生可以体验到同情心的满足感，即关爱的积极方面。这项研究探索了同情疲劳和同情满意度与肿瘤学家的悲痛和失败感之间的联系，而据报道，他们没有遭受痛苦和死亡。方法74位肿瘤科医生完成了自我管理的问卷调查，检查了同情疲劳，同情满意度，悲伤，遭受痛苦和死亡的风险以及失败感。结果肿瘤学家报告说，他们面临约50％的患者流失，并且他们的患者遭受着深深的情绪和身体痛苦。据报告，同伴疲劳和悲伤程度高，失败感中等。调查结果表明，遭受痛苦和死亡以及同情疲劳和满意之间缺乏联系。然而，悲伤和失败感可以预测同情疲劳的两个方面：继发性创伤应激（分别为p <0.001，p <0.003）和倦怠（分别为p <0.002，p <0.025）。结论这些结果凸显了肿瘤学家主观经历的悲伤和失败感的重要性，除了他们关于遭受痛苦和死亡的报道以外，就同情疲劳水平而言。