Objectives. About us! 10/8/2014. What stresses us out! What makes us HAPPY!!

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1 Child Life (Life) Well-Lived: The Happiness Project Bri Swope, MA, CCLS, CTRS Emily Mozena, MA, CCLS, CTRS Nov. 7, 2014 Objectives 1. Attendees will review the definitions as well as components of stress, compassion fatigue, burnout, happiness, and life-work satisfaction in relation to the child life profession. 2. Attendees will examine current research on happiness and discuss a system to look at a Happiness Project for child life. 3. Attendees will have the tools needed to develop their own personal Happiness Project for their own professional and personal life. Professional Responsibility, Task 5- Engage in continuing education in order to promote professional development About us! What stresses us out! What makes us HAPPY!! 1

2 Stress In a medical or biological context stress is a physical, mental, or emotional factor that causes bodily or mental tension. Stresses can be external (from the environment, psychological, or social situations) or internal (illness, or from a medical procedure). Stress Cup Model- Capacity to Deal with Life Reserve---Spillover Special Projects Work Family Friends, Leisure/Exercise Bills, laundry, groceries, errands Negative impact of stress: Common Ailments: -physical -emotional -spiritual 2

3 Stress cards for attendees- How stressed are you? Perceived Stress Scale For each question choose from the following alternatives: 0 never 1 - almost never 2 sometimes 3 - fairly often 4 - very often 1. In the last month, how often have you been upset because of something that happened unexpectedly? 2. In the last month, how often have you felt that you were unable to control the important things in your life? 3. In the last month, how often have you felt nervous and stressed? 4. In the last month, how often have you felt confident about your ability to handle your personal problems? 5. In the last month, how often have you felt that things were going your way? 0 never 1 - almost never 2 sometimes 3 - fairly often 4 - very often 6. In the last month, how often have you found that you could not cope with all the things that you had to do? 7. In the last month, how often have you been able to control irritations in your life? 8. In the last month, how often have you felt that you were on top of things? 9. In the last month, how often have you been angered because of things that happened that were outside of your control? 10. In the last month, how often have you felt difficulties were piling up so high that you could not overcome them? 3

4 Score Your Perceived Stress Score First, reverse your scores for questions 4, 5, 7, & 8. On these 4 questions, change the scores like this: 0 = 4, 1 = 3, 2 = 2, 3 = 1, 4 = 0. Now add up your scores for each item to get a total. My total score is. Individual scores on the PSS can range from 0 to 40 with higher scores indicating higher perceived stress. Scores ranging from 0-13 would be considered low stress. Scores ranging from would be considered moderate stress. Scores ranging from would be considered high perceived stress. Compassion Satisfaction Compassion Satisfaction is the motivation to keep helping people (or animals or the environment) shaped in part by the satisfaction of service the greater good. Compassion satisfaction may be happiness with what one can do to make the world in which one lives a reflection of what one things it should be. (Stamm, 2002 p 107) from: Child Life Council, 29 th Annual Conference on Professional Issues, Cultivating Self-Care Practice to Avoid Compassion Fatigue. Susan Boon Murray, CCLS CTRS, 2011 The practice of medicine is an art, not a trade; a calling, not a business; a calling in which your heart will be exercised equally with your head.» Sir William Osler The nature of caregiving with pediatric patients entails giving: Of your time Of your resources and energy Consistently seeing children in pain, in need, vulnerable, grieving, and in conflict 4

5 Empathy and Sympathy Empathy- when you feel with the person that is in distress and imagine how they experience their world Sympathy- feeling for the person in distress, but remaining distant Empathy and sympathy both promote helping balance is needed in your emotional involvement The Helper s Pit Sympathy Empathy Don t fall into the pit! -if you fall in- too emotionally involved (overinvolved) it limits our helping -unable to think objectively -we don t have help Compassion Fatigue Compassion fatigue is used to describe the unique stressors that affect people in caregiving professions. Sufferers can exhibit several symptoms including hopelessness, a decrease in experiences of pleasure, constant stress and anxiety, sleeplessness or nightmares, and a pervasive negative attitude (Bush, 2009). Compassion fatigue escalates gradually as stress cumulates over time, often when caregivers ignore the symptoms of stress and do not attend to their own emotional needs (Bush, 2009). 5

6 Symptoms of Compassion fatigue Symptoms similar to PTSD Depression Nightmares Sleep Disruption Irritibility Anger Fear Anxiety Guilt Grief Heightened startle response Helplessness Burnout Burnout is defined in Merriam- Webster's Collegiate Dictionary as "exhaustion of physical or emotional strength or motivation usually as a result of prolonged stress or frustration." The phenomenon of burnout has been well researched over the past 30 years and is often related to professionals working within a healthcare setting. Burnout has been described as having feelings of failure, being worn out, or becoming exhausted by excessive demands on energy, strength, or resources (Bush, 2009). Symptoms of Burnout Emotional Exhaustion Depersonalization Lack of personal accomplishment Callousness Feeling overly sad or depressed Apathy Excessive bitterness and anger Alcohol/Drug use Negative outlook on work Personal Distress 6

7 Purpose of the Presentationwhy is it important Caregiving is noted to be among the top 10 most stressful jobs and burnout has been an issue as long as caregiving has been a career. (Varner, 2004). Child life specialists help build positive coping strategies to assist others in alleviating the negative effects of stress. However, compassion fatigue and burnout can create feelings of unhappiness leading to lessened job performance and satisfaction. Burnout Have we stressed you out yet?!?!? From AHHHH!!..To Ahhhh. Care tags activity 7

8 Examining Happiness Research What people says makes them happy- Gross National Survey The Top 10 Happiest States 8

9 How Happy are you? Take the Gross National Index Survey: 9

10 Bri s Results Emily s Results Alternative Measure of happiness The Satisfaction with Life Scale by Edward Diener s.upenn.edu/lifesa tisfactionscale.pdf 10

11 The Happiness Project Defined A happiness project is an approach to changing your life. 3 stages: 1. Preparation stage 2. Making of resolutions 3. Keeping your resolutions 12 Tips for Child Life Specialists- try one for each month!! 11

12 Discussion/Questions 12

13 References: Beardslee, W., Avery, M., Ayoub, C., Watts, C., Lester, P., (2010). Building Resilience: The power to cope with adversity. Zero to Three, Bush, N. (2009). Compassion Fatigue: Are You at Risk?. Oncology Nursing Forum, 36(1), doi: /09.onf Figley, C. (1995). Compassion Fatigue: Coping with secondary traumatic stress disorder. New York: Brunner/Mazel. Figley, C. (2002). Treating Compassion Fatigue. New York: Brunner/Routledge. Gaynard, L., Wolfer, J., Goldberger, J., Thompson, R., Redburn, L., Laidley, L., (1998). Psychosocial Care of Children in Hospitals: A Clinical Practice Manual From the ACCH Child Life Research Project, Keltner, G. The Power of Kindness (2008). Utne, Kempster, R., Leder, M., The Happy Book (2009). Illinois: Sourcebooks. Lazarus, R.A., Folkman, S (1984). Stress, appraisal, and coping. New York: Springer. Meadors, P., Lamson, A., Swanson, M., White, M., & Sira, N. (2009). Secondary Traumatization in Pediatric Healthcare Providers: Compassion Fatigue, Burnout, and Secondary Traumatic Stress. Omega: Journal Of Death & Dying, 60(2), doi: /om.60.2.a Rubin, G. The Happiness Project (2009). New York:Harper. Wallis, C (2004). The New Science of Happiness. Time. Webster s Online Dictionary. (2007). Compassion. Retrieved on February 24, 2014, from Wenner, M. (2009). The serious need for play. Scientific American Mind, 20(1), Zarghuna, N., Khalid, R. (2010). Positive Thinking in Coping with Stress and Health Outcomes. Journal of Research and Reflections in Education 4(1),