(PS10-11) Empathy as a Moderator in the Pathways from Trauma Exposure to Death Anxiety and Compassion Fatigue in First Responders

Abstract Text: Background. First responders are a highly studied population due to their unique exposure to secondary traumatic stress (STS) within their professional duties. Existing research on this population has generally focused on the negative impact of STS on outcomes, such as posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), burnout, and mood disorder symptoms, and individual variables that confer additional risk or protection for such, including compassion for self and capacity for empathy (McDonald et al., 2021; Jones et al., 2017). Despite first responder’s unique exposures to STS and deadly incidents, few studies have directly investigated how traumatic experiences impact death anxiety and compassion towards others, two critical factors in occupational decision-making and personal and professional wellbeing (Casas et al., 2022). How empathy and trauma exposure influence death anxiety and compassion satisfaction among first responders, given their frequent exposure to severe life-threatening injuries and possible death in emergency situations, remains unknown and, thus, critically understudied.

Method. The current study examined the impact of empathy on the relationship between trauma exposure and both compassion fatigue and death anxiety among first responders. Data were collected in REDCap using an online survey of first responders in a mid-sized city in the Northeastern U.S (N = 116; 60.3% Male; 94.0% White) ages 18-64 (M = 34.65 years, SD = 9.59). All data was analyzed using IBM SPSS Version 29. Residual diagnostics, including normality and homoscedasticity checks, were performed to ensure the validity of moderation analyses. The first moderation included the summation of traumatic events experienced (LEC-5) as the predictor, empathy (PES) as the moderator, and death anxiety (SDA) as the outcome. The second model examined compassion satisfaction (Compassion Satisfaction subscale, PROQOL) as the outcome.

Results. The first moderation model for death anxiety was not significant. However, the second model predicting compassion satisfaction was significant [F(3,93) = 4.318, p = .006, adjusted R2 = .12], as was the interaction between trauma exposure and empathy [β = .015, 95% CI (.0058, .0234), p = .0013]. Both trauma exposure (β = .279, p = .004) and empathy (β = .118, p = .027) were significant predictors in the model, indicating partial moderation. At low and moderate levels of empathy, trauma exposure was not a significant predictor (SE = .076, p = .146; SE = .047, p = .529), but at high levels of empathy, trauma exposure significantly predicted compassion satisfaction (SE = .049, p < .001).

Discussion. Results indicate that for those with higher levels of empathy, trauma exposure had a positive relationship with compassion satisfaction when compared to those with less empathy. This could signify that empathy may act as a protective factor against compassion fatigue among trauma-exposed first responders. Understanding the unique ways that first responders are affected by the impact of personal and job-related trauma exposure may inform educational and preventative efforts to promote the psychological health of this population.