The help effect: Testing the moderating effects of compassion fatigue and help-seeking behavior among Filipino mental health responders

• Main Authors: Bartolome, Koleen Faye P., Lim, Alissa Gale E., Marinay, Kamille Kyle O.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2016
• Subjects: Health; Mental health > Philippines; Secondary traumatic stress; Help-seeking behavior; Stress (Psychology); Psychology
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_bachelors/7905
• Institution: De La Salle University

Mental health responders are individuals who give psychological help to those with mental health issues. Due to their work, they are at a greater risk of experiencing mental health problems. A prevalent type of stress in these responders is compassion fatigue it is detrimental to their health and well being. Thus, it is important to explore coping mechanism, such as help-seeking behavior to protect their mental health. Little information, however, is available on these responders' mental health problems and the interventions that address them. This paper focuses on two frameworks: how compassion fatigue moderates the relationship between help-seeking behavior and mental health and how help-seeking moderates the relationship between compassion fatigue and mental health. Data was gathered from 102 Filipino mental health responders across Metro Manila. It was found that help-seeking behavior had an insignificant positive relationship with one's mental health, while compassion fatigue had a significant negative relationship with mental health. Moreover, compassion fatigue and help-seeking had no moderating effects among the mental health of Filipino mental health professionals. The research suggests that it is necessary to further investigate the mental health of these responders, especially in the Philippines, where mental health problems are becoming more prevalent.