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Caring Too Much? Emotional Labor and Compassion Fatigue among Faculty during the COVID-19 Pandemic

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Title: Caring Too Much? Emotional Labor and Compassion Fatigue among Faculty during the COVID-19 Pandemic
Language: English
Authors: Katie Constantin (ORCID 0000-0002-5220-3323), Gemini Creason-Parker, Cynthia Werner (ORCID 0000-0002-2662-8088), Elizabeth D. Jenkins (ORCID 0000-0002-1777-0656), Vansa Shewakramani Hanson (ORCID 0000-0001-6054-7196), Rose L. Siuta (ORCID 0000-0002-0910-9892)
Source: Research in Higher Education. 2024 65(7):1540-1560.
Availability: Springer. Available from: Springer Nature. One New York Plaza, Suite 4600, New York, NY 10004. Tel: 800-777-4643; Tel: 212-460-1500; Fax: 212-460-1700; e-mail: customerservice@springernature.com; Web site: https://link.springer.com/
Peer Reviewed: Y
Page Count: 21
Publication Date: 2024
Document Type: Journal Articles
Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education
Postsecondary Education
Descriptors: Emotional Response, Psychological Patterns, Altruism, Fatigue (Biology), College Faculty, COVID-19, Pandemics, Caring, Stress Variables, Trauma, Teaching Experience, Teacher Burnout
DOI: 10.1007/s11162-024-09799-2
ISSN: 0361-0365
1573-188X
Abstract: The COVID-19 pandemic brought abrupt changes to teaching that caused increased stress amid an already difficult time. Whether teaching remote, hybrid, or in-person, university faculty were expected to continue teaching throughout the pandemic, despite personal challenges at home. In addition, there were expectations that faculty show greater levels of compassion towards their students. Multiple articles brought attention to these struggles and questioned whether university faculty might be experiencing compassion fatigue--a state of emotional exhaustion brought on by secondary traumatic stress and characterized by a reduced capacity for empathy. Using data from a larger, longitudinal qualitative study of faculty members' experiences during the pandemic, the present study aims to understand faculty experiences of emotional labor and compassion fatigue during this time. Unsurprisingly, most participants reported an increase in emotional labor during the early pandemic; however, roughly one in four described their emotional labor loads as unchanged or even decreased. In those cases, participants often described active disengagement practices in the workplace, or methods of "guarding one's time." Overall, compassion fatigue was less evident than anticipated, but there were identifiable signs of burnout among participants. This finding alone suggests a need for additional research to better conceptualize and operationalize the two terms.
Abstractor: As Provided
Entry Date: 2024
Accession Number: EJ1446294
Database: ERIC
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  Value: <anid>AN0180588921;rhe01nov.24;2024Nov04.04:34;v2.2.500</anid> <title id="AN0180588921-1">Caring Too Much? Emotional Labor and Compassion Fatigue Among Faculty During the COVID-19 Pandemic </title> <p>The COVID-19 pandemic brought abrupt changes to teaching that caused increased stress amid an already difficult time. Whether teaching remote, hybrid, or in-person, university faculty were expected to continue teaching throughout the pandemic, despite personal challenges at home. In addition, there were expectations that faculty show greater levels of compassion towards their students. Multiple articles brought attention to these struggles and questioned whether university faculty might be experiencing compassion fatigue—a state of emotional exhaustion brought on by secondary traumatic stress and characterized by a reduced capacity for empathy. Using data from a larger, longitudinal qualitative study of faculty members' experiences during the pandemic, the present study aims to understand faculty experiences of emotional labor and compassion fatigue during this time. Unsurprisingly, most participants reported an increase in emotional labor during the early pandemic; however, roughly one in four described their emotional labor loads as unchanged or even decreased. In those cases, participants often described active disengagement practices in the workplace, or methods of "guarding one's time." Overall, compassion fatigue was less evident than anticipated, but there were identifiable signs of burnout among participants. This finding alone suggests a need for additional research to better conceptualize and operationalize the two terms.</p> <p>Keywords: Faculty well-being; Emotional labor; Feeling rules; Compassion fatigue; Empathic distress; COVID-19</p> <p>Copyright comment Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.</p> <hd id="AN0180588921-2">Introduction</hd> <p>During the spring semester of 2020, institutions of higher education were forced to transition to remote work due to stay-at-home orders implemented across the United States in response to COVID-19. This shut down negatively impacted the health and well-being of faculty and students alike (Rudenstine et al., [<reflink idref="bib54" id="ref1">54</reflink>]; Scharmer et al., [<reflink idref="bib56" id="ref2">56</reflink>]). During this time, faculty had to continue teaching and mentoring students who may have been directly or indirectly traumatized by the effects of the pandemic, while also dealing with their own hardships. Many responded to this challenge by intentionally adapting their teaching strategies to reflect greater levels of compassion and care for students (Bartholomay, [<reflink idref="bib5" id="ref3">5</reflink>]; Head, [<reflink idref="bib27" id="ref4">27</reflink>]). Consequently, some began to worry that the COVID-19 pandemic would act as a catalyst for compassion fatigue in higher education.</p> <p>Compassion fatigue occurs "when someone becomes overloaded with other people's stress, leading to physical and mental exhaustion" (Wehlburg, [<reflink idref="bib65" id="ref5">65</reflink>]). It is a byproduct of empathically engaging with others. Thus, it is also a potential consequence of excessive emotional labor, i.e., the management of feelings in workplace settings. Although early work on compassion fatigue focused primarily on health care workers, recent work has called attention to its emergence among teachers and other education professionals (Borntrager et al., [<reflink idref="bib9" id="ref6">9</reflink>]; Chiu et al., [<reflink idref="bib14" id="ref7">14</reflink>]; Koenig et al., [<reflink idref="bib36" id="ref8">36</reflink>]; Pérez-Chacón et al., [<reflink idref="bib50" id="ref9">50</reflink>]). In the present study, we seek to expand upon this body of literature by examining faculty experiences of emotional labor and compassion fatigue during the COVID-19 pandemic.</p> <hd id="AN0180588921-3">Literature Review</hd> <p></p> <hd id="AN0180588921-4">Emotional Labor Within Higher Education</hd> <p>Emotional labor[<reflink idref="bib1" id="ref10">1</reflink>] is a broad term used to describe the management of feelings in workplace settings (Erickson & Ritter, [<reflink idref="bib19" id="ref11">19</reflink>]; Hochschild, [<reflink idref="bib29" id="ref12">29</reflink>]; Glomb & Tews, [<reflink idref="bib23" id="ref13">23</reflink>]). It includes both self-directed and other-directed labor (Pugliesi, [<reflink idref="bib52" id="ref14">52</reflink>]). Self-directed emotional labor refers to the work individuals do to control their <emph>own</emph> emotions within the workplace, e.g. suppressing negative emotions or faking positive emotions. Other-directed emotional labor refers to the work individuals do to regulate the emotions of others, e.g., boosting a client's self-esteem, minimizing coworker stress, or mediating office interpersonal conflicts (Pugliesi, [<reflink idref="bib52" id="ref15">52</reflink>]). Although the amount of emotional labor that workers are expected to perform varies from context to context, as Hochschild ([<reflink idref="bib29" id="ref16">29</reflink>]) notes, most institutions have specific "feeling rules" or injunctive norms which delineate the type and valence of emotion states that workers are expected to display (and not display) while on the job. Within these contexts, emotional labor describes the effort and control individuals exert to meet culturally and institutionally proscribed feeling rules (Hochschild, [<reflink idref="bib29" id="ref17">29</reflink>]).</p> <p>Within institutions of higher education, in particular, scholars have identified several different feeling rules. Most have focused on the emotional displays of faculty within the classroom. According to Tunguz ([<reflink idref="bib62" id="ref18">62</reflink>], p. 6), for example, the professoriate requires faculty to display "authoritative emotions", i.e., authority, discipline, and assertiveness, in their interactions with students. Demonstrations of mere professional competence, however, are not enough. Faculty must also suppress or eliminate any feelings of anger, frustration, and insecurity they experience (Harlow, [<reflink idref="bib26" id="ref19">26</reflink>]). And, if possible, they should also work to demonstrate their sense of enjoyment and humor in the classroom (McKinney, [<reflink idref="bib45" id="ref20">45</reflink>]). As Waldbuesser et al. ([<reflink idref="bib64" id="ref21">64</reflink>]) note, faculty feeling rules can—for the most part—be summarized as follows: (<reflink idref="bib1" id="ref22">1</reflink>) have enthusiasm for course content, (<reflink idref="bib2" id="ref23">2</reflink>) love your work, (<reflink idref="bib3" id="ref24">3</reflink>) have a sense of humor, (<reflink idref="bib4" id="ref25">4</reflink>) avoid and control negative emotions, and (<reflink idref="bib5" id="ref26">5</reflink>) express care or affection for students (Waldbuesser et al., [<reflink idref="bib64" id="ref27">64</reflink>]).</p> <p>Expectations for how, when, and by whom this emotion work will be performed, however, are not always equal. As research within the emotion labor literature has demonstrated more broadly, women are often expected to be more approachable, nurturing, and caring than men.[<reflink idref="bib2" id="ref28">2</reflink>] As a result, students are more likely to turn to women faculty for emotional support and special favors. In their examination of faculty perceptions of workplace demands, for example, El-Alayli et al. ([<reflink idref="bib18" id="ref29">18</reflink>]) found that the female faculty in their sample reported experiencing significantly more <emph>other-directed</emph> emotional labor than the male faculty, and this gender difference in emotional labor was mediated by the perceived frequency of special favor requests (e.g., extra credit, study guides, notes, make-up tests, etc.) that faculty received from academically entitled students. Similarly, in their examination of teaching demands during COVID-19, Berheide et al. ([<reflink idref="bib7" id="ref30">7</reflink>]) found that white cisgender men, in particular, experienced significantly less <emph>self-directed</emph> and <emph>other-directed</emph> emotional labor than historically marginalized groups (i.e., women, people of color, and gender-nonconforming individuals) because their privileged status within the academy shielded them from receiving the same types of student demands that other groups reported facing.</p> <p>Additionally, women, racial and ethnic minorities, and junior faculty are often pushed into roles which require greater levels of socio-emotional labor. [Teaching is undoubtedly the role most associated with these demands. However, as illustrated by Bellas ([<reflink idref="bib6" id="ref31">6</reflink>]), research, service, and administration can also require substantial emotion work.] As a result, they are more likely to recognize and empathize with the emotional distress of others (Kraus et al., [<reflink idref="bib38" id="ref32">38</reflink>]; Stellar et al., [<reflink idref="bib60" id="ref33">60</reflink>]). Inequalities in the performance of emotional labor, consequently, end up reproducing existing social inequalities by pushing additional—oftentimes invisible labor—onto those in lower status and power positions (Vaccaro et al., [<reflink idref="bib63" id="ref34">63</reflink>]). This is particularly troubling given the strong relationship between emotional labor and worker well-being.</p> <p>Although there is some evidence to suggest that certain types of emotional labor, i.e., genuine positive displays and/or deep acting, can have positive consequences for workers (see for example, Brotheridge & Grandey, [<reflink idref="bib12" id="ref35">12</reflink>]), most of the literature within this field has focused on the potential for negative outcomes. In their examination of well-being among university employees, for instance, Pugliesi ([<reflink idref="bib52" id="ref36">52</reflink>]) found a strong positive relationship between both self- and other-directed emotional labor and job-related stress and dissatisfaction. Erickson and Ritter ([<reflink idref="bib19" id="ref37">19</reflink>]) found a positive relationship between the suppression of "agitated emotions"—i.e., irritation, anger, and nervousness—and burnout. Further, Mahoney et al. ([<reflink idref="bib43" id="ref38">43</reflink>]) found positive relationships between several different types of emotional labor—including the (<reflink idref="bib1" id="ref39">1</reflink>) expression of genuine negative emotions, (<reflink idref="bib2" id="ref40">2</reflink>) suppression of negative emotions, and (<reflink idref="bib3" id="ref41">3</reflink>) faking of positive emotions—and emotional exhaustion. Collectively, these studies demonstrate that emotional labor can have deleterious effects on workers. However, the evidence is mixed as to the conditions under which such effects are most likely to occur.</p> <hd id="AN0180588921-5">Compassion Fatigue Within Higher Education</hd> <p>Compassion is a behavioral response to the perceived distress of another. By definition, it requires the consideration of the thoughts and feelings of others. Consequently, showing compassion can involve both self-directed and other-directed emotional labor (e.g., suppressing personal anger or frustration to console another). Nevertheless, compassion is rarely discussed within the context of the literature on emotional labor—particularly within academic settings. With that said, the notion of compassion has increasingly been discussed as a pedagogical tool that faculty can and should adopt during times of uncertainty (Head, [<reflink idref="bib27" id="ref42">27</reflink>]; Jones, [<reflink idref="bib35" id="ref43">35</reflink>]). As a result, the experience of compassion fatigue has simultaneously become cause for concern (Cordaro, [<reflink idref="bib15" id="ref44">15</reflink>]; Johnson, [<reflink idref="bib33" id="ref45">33</reflink>]). In the present study, we seek to unite these bodies of literature by examining how the COVID-19 pandemic impacted the emotional labor and compassion fatigue of academics.</p> <hd id="AN0180588921-6">Conceptualization</hd> <p>The term compassion fatigue was originally developed to describe the unique state of psychological stress experienced by nurses and health care workers that results from the practice of providing care for traumatized individuals (Figley, [<reflink idref="bib21" id="ref46">21</reflink>]; Joinson, [<reflink idref="bib34" id="ref47">34</reflink>]). It is a condition of mental, emotional, and physical exhaustion characterized by a sense of desensitization, apathy, and/or helplessness (Henson, [<reflink idref="bib28" id="ref48">28</reflink>]). It often arises suddenly and unexpectedly as a result of repeat, prolonged exposure to the pain and suffering of others. Consequently, it is considered an occupational hazard for those working in the caring professions (Barnett et al., [<reflink idref="bib3" id="ref49">3</reflink>]; Henson, [<reflink idref="bib28" id="ref50">28</reflink>]; Steinheiser, [<reflink idref="bib59" id="ref51">59</reflink>]). In Figley's words ([<reflink idref="bib21" id="ref52">21</reflink>]), compassion fatigue is a "state of exhaustion" (p. 253) that is characterized by a reduced capacity for empathy.</p> <p>More recently, compassion fatigue has been conceptualized as a multidimensional concept composed of secondary traumatic stress and burnout (Adams et al., [<reflink idref="bib2" id="ref53">2</reflink>]; Newell & MacNeil, [<reflink idref="bib49" id="ref54">49</reflink>]). Secondary traumatic stress (STS) refers to the behaviors and emotions that result from the indirect traumatization of individuals through their empathic engagement with others who have been directly traumatized (Adams et al., [<reflink idref="bib2" id="ref55">2</reflink>]; Figley, [<reflink idref="bib21" id="ref56">21</reflink>]). Often conflated with compassion fatigue, STS arises in connection with traumatic events and has been associated with similar outcomes to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) (Boscarino et al., [<reflink idref="bib10" id="ref57">10</reflink>]; Bride et al., [<reflink idref="bib11" id="ref58">11</reflink>]; Huggard et al., [<reflink idref="bib32" id="ref59">32</reflink>]). Nevertheless, research has shown that measures of STS in isolation fail to adequately capture the concept of compassion fatigue in its entirety because compassion fatigue also involves elements of burnout (Bride et al., [<reflink idref="bib11" id="ref60">11</reflink>]; Steinheiser, [<reflink idref="bib59" id="ref61">59</reflink>]).</p> <p>Burnout involves a state of emotional exhaustion resulting from unresolved, workplace stress. Like compassion fatigue, it is characterized by a sense of depersonalization or cynicism and hopelessness (Platt & Olsen, [<reflink idref="bib51" id="ref62">51</reflink>]; Henson, [<reflink idref="bib28" id="ref63">28</reflink>]; Newell & MacNeil, [<reflink idref="bib49" id="ref64">49</reflink>]). However, unlike compassion fatigue, burnout does not require direct or indirect exposure to trauma to occur (Freudenberger, [<reflink idref="bib22" id="ref65">22</reflink>]; Hofmeyer et al., [<reflink idref="bib30" id="ref66">30</reflink>]). Rather, it can evolve slowly over time in response to excessive workloads, low levels of control, negative work environments, a diminishing sense of achievement, and low levels of social support (Maslach et al., [<reflink idref="bib44" id="ref67">44</reflink>]; Henson, [<reflink idref="bib28" id="ref68">28</reflink>]). As Figley ([<reflink idref="bib20" id="ref69">20</reflink>]) explains, "Burnout is when you're sick of your job; compassion fatigue is when you like your job but you can't quite manage the emotionality of it" (p. 194). In the present study, we draw on Figley's ([<reflink idref="bib20" id="ref70">20</reflink>]) distinction and conceptualize compassion fatigue as a type of emotional exhaustion (i.e., burnout) resulting from repeat empathic engagement with traumatized others (i.e., secondary traumatic stress), which reduces the afflicted individual's capacity for empathy.</p> <p>Despite the proliferation of research investigating this concept over the past few decades, there are some who contest the conceptualization of compassion fatigue. According to Hofmeyer et al. ([<reflink idref="bib30" id="ref71">30</reflink>]), for instance, the term compassion fatigue is a misnomer that contradicts contemporary neuroscience. Based on results from a variety of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies, they argue that compassion is the ability to "feel for" others while empathy is the ability to "feel with" others. Empathy, in other words, requires individuals to internalize the emotions of others. Compassion does not. For Hofmeyer et al. ([<reflink idref="bib30" id="ref72">30</reflink>]), compassion is best understood as a form of emotion regulation that actively works to protect individuals from internalizing the negative affect experienced by others who are suffering. It does not cause fatigue, and as a result, a more appropriate term for the psychological stress associated with the concept of compassion fatigue is "empathic distress fatigue" (Hofmeyer et al., [<reflink idref="bib30" id="ref73">30</reflink>]). While we agree with their assessment, we have opted to adopt the standard term—compassion fatigue—to ensure that our findings are not lost in translation or overlooked by other scholars exploring research within this domain.[<reflink idref="bib3" id="ref74">3</reflink>]</p> <hd id="AN0180588921-7">Signs and Symptoms</hd> <p>The symptoms of compassion fatigue are numerous and multidimensional, affecting the sufferer psychologically, physically, and socially (Cordaro, [<reflink idref="bib15" id="ref75">15</reflink>]). Psychological symptoms can include hopelessness, depression, guilt, low self-esteem, diminished capacity for joyful emotions, anxiety, and feeling overwhelmed or numb (Cordaro, [<reflink idref="bib15" id="ref76">15</reflink>]; Krop, [<reflink idref="bib39" id="ref77">39</reflink>]). Individuals may start engaging in addictive behaviors, such as excessive drinking, doing illicit drugs, or disordered eating, in an effort to cope with or "numb" their condition (Cordaro, [<reflink idref="bib15" id="ref78">15</reflink>]; Krop, [<reflink idref="bib39" id="ref79">39</reflink>]). Physically, individuals may experience exhaustion, trouble sleeping, tearfulness, and chest tightness (Krop, [<reflink idref="bib39" id="ref80">39</reflink>]). Signs of compassion fatigue can also be externalized or made noticeable to those around an individual, such as chronic lateness and increased irritability (Krop, [<reflink idref="bib39" id="ref81">39</reflink>]). Similarly, sleep disturbances and overworking may negatively affect an individual's performance in the workplace (Krop, [<reflink idref="bib39" id="ref82">39</reflink>]). Rooted in its own definition, a telltale sign that someone is suffering from compassion fatigue is an inability to empathize and show compassion for others (Cordaro, [<reflink idref="bib15" id="ref83">15</reflink>]; Figley, [<reflink idref="bib20" id="ref84">20</reflink>]; Krop, [<reflink idref="bib39" id="ref85">39</reflink>]; Malchow, [<reflink idref="bib42" id="ref86">42</reflink>]).</p> <hd id="AN0180588921-8">Risk and Protective Factors</hd> <p>Certain personal characteristics and environmental conditions can place some people at an increased or decreased chance of developing compassion fatigue (i.e., risks and protective factors). For example, professionals who neglect their own self-care amidst the care they give for students and colleagues are at a higher risk for developing compassion fatigue (Can & Watson, [<reflink idref="bib13" id="ref87">13</reflink>]; Cordaro, [<reflink idref="bib15" id="ref88">15</reflink>]; Ray et al., [<reflink idref="bib53" id="ref89">53</reflink>]). Another factor that is likely to increase the risk for developing compassion fatigue is a personal history with trauma and repeated exposure to stressful events (Nelson-Gardell & Harris, [<reflink idref="bib48" id="ref90">48</reflink>]; Sacco et al., [<reflink idref="bib55" id="ref91">55</reflink>]; Smart et al., [<reflink idref="bib58" id="ref92">58</reflink>]; Singer et al., [<reflink idref="bib57" id="ref93">57</reflink>]). Lastly, a lack of boundaries in one's professional and personal lives is another risk factor for compassion fatigue (Abendroth & Flannery, [<reflink idref="bib1" id="ref94">1</reflink>]). Notably, as an example outside academia, researchers investigating the relationship between emotional displays and compassion fatigue among hospice nurses have found a strong positive association between compassion fatigue and the faking, suppressing, and genuine expression of negative emotions (i.e., emotional labor) (Barnett et al., [<reflink idref="bib3" id="ref95">3</reflink>]). More broadly, as Barr ([<reflink idref="bib4" id="ref96">4</reflink>]) noted, workers who felt higher levels of stress due to role conflict and role overload also reported experiencing higher levels of burnout and STS. Unfortunately, these risk factors have most likely been exacerbated by the pandemic in employment sectors involving care work, including education.</p> <p>Correspondingly, scholars have identified certain protective factors and recommendations for avoiding and/or reducing compassion fatigue in higher education. As explained by Cordaro ([<reflink idref="bib15" id="ref97">15</reflink>]), "these protective factors can be applied as proactive coping strategies (e.g., preventatively coping in advance) or as intervention coping strategies once compassion fatigue is suspected" (p. 20). One of the strongest protective factors identified in the literature is self-care, which can be categorized into six key areas: physical, emotional, social, cognitive, financial, and spiritual (Johnson, [<reflink idref="bib33" id="ref98">33</reflink>]). A broad range of self-care activities and behaviors, like outside hobbies, exercise, and quality sleep, protect against compassion fatigue (Can & Watson, [<reflink idref="bib13" id="ref99">13</reflink>]; Cordaro, [<reflink idref="bib15" id="ref100">15</reflink>]; Hotchkiss & Lesher, [<reflink idref="bib31" id="ref101">31</reflink>]; Ray et al., [<reflink idref="bib53" id="ref102">53</reflink>]). Related to self-care is the concept of self-compassion, a term used by Neff ([<reflink idref="bib47" id="ref103">47</reflink>]) to describe an understanding approach to oneself when faced with disappointment and failure. Self-compassion is needed to "recognize our own distress, without judgment, while attempting to alleviate it" (Cordaro, [<reflink idref="bib15" id="ref104">15</reflink>], p. 21). Finally, personal and professional social support can protect against compassion fatigue as both have the potential to fill emotional needs and minimize the detrimental effects of stress (Cordaro, [<reflink idref="bib15" id="ref105">15</reflink>]; Figley, [<reflink idref="bib20" id="ref106">20</reflink>]; Barr, [<reflink idref="bib4" id="ref107">4</reflink>]). In a field (i.e., higher education) and a time (i.e., COVID-19) where compassion fatigue seems to be growing, however, this can be difficult for faculty members to foster at the professional level. With more colleagues also potentially suffering from compassion fatigue, faculty may be limited in whom they can seek support from.</p> <p>As a result of the pandemic, a growing number of scholars and educators have voiced concerns about the risks of compassion fatigue. Previous research has demonstrated that academics are at risk of both burnout (Kollinger, [<reflink idref="bib37" id="ref108">37</reflink>]; McMurtrie, [<reflink idref="bib46" id="ref109">46</reflink>]; Tugend, [<reflink idref="bib61" id="ref110">61</reflink>]) and STS (Goode, [<reflink idref="bib25" id="ref111">25</reflink>]). However, there have been very few empirical investigations into the experience of compassion fatigue among higher education professionals. In the present study, we address this gap by examining how the COVID-19 pandemic impacted the emotional labor and compassion fatigue of faculty through in-depth, semi-structured, qualitative interviews. Drawing on the insights and experiences of multiple categories of faculty (e.g., tenured, tenure-track), we describe the experiences of faculty through the lens of emotional labor and compassion fatigue. Moreover, we make micro and macro-level recommendations to improve institutional support for these faculty post-pandemic.</p> <hd id="AN0180588921-9">Data and Methods</hd> <p>The data for this paper emerged from a larger, longitudinal qualitative study examining the impacts of COVID-19 on the productivity and work life balance of scholars at a large R1 university.[<reflink idref="bib4" id="ref112">4</reflink>] Participants were recruited via email during the summer of 2020 and asked to complete a prescreen survey to determine their eligibility. From those who responded and met the inclusion criteria, we generated a sample of 18 professional track faculty members (NTT), 20 tenure-track faculty members (TT), and 20 tenured faculty members.[<reflink idref="bib5" id="ref113">5</reflink>] At this university, professional track faculty do not accrue tenure and tend to have greater teaching responsibilities. Over half of the respondents (69%) identified as White, 7% identified as Asian, 10% identified as Hispanic or Latinx, 2% identified as African American or Black, and 9% identified as bi- or multiracial. The average age of respondents was 43 years. Nearly three-quarters (71%) identified as women, one-quarter (26%) identified as men, and the remaining preferred not to indicate their gender.[<reflink idref="bib6" id="ref114">6</reflink>] Additional participant characteristics are reported in Table 1.</p> <p>Table 1 Participant characteristics</p> <p> <ephtml> <table frame="hsides" rules="groups"><thead><tr><th align="left" /><th align="left"><p>Professional track (n = 18)</p></th><th align="left"><p>Tenure track (n = 20)</p></th><th align="left"><p>Tenured (n = 20)</p></th><th align="left"><p>Total (n = 58)</p></th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td align="left" colspan="5"><p>Gender</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p> Male</p></td><td char="(" align="char"><p>3 (5%)</p></td><td char="(" align="char"><p>7 (12%)</p></td><td char="(" align="char"><p>5 (8%)</p></td><td char="(" align="char"><p>15 (26%)</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p> Female</p></td><td char="(" align="char"><p>14 (24%)</p></td><td char="(" align="char"><p>12 (21%)</p></td><td char="(" align="char"><p>15 (26%)</p></td><td char="(" align="char"><p>41 (71%)</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p> Other</p></td><td char="(" align="char"><p>1 (2%)</p></td><td char="(" align="char"><p>1 (2%)</p></td><td char="(" align="char"><p>0 (0%)</p></td><td char="(" align="char"><p>2 (3%)</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left" colspan="5"><p>Race/ethnicity</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p> Non-Hispanic white</p></td><td char="(" align="char"><p>15 (26%)</p></td><td char="(" align="char"><p>13 (22%)</p></td><td char="(" align="char"><p>12 (21%)</p></td><td char="(" align="char"><p>40 (69%)</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p> Black</p></td><td char="(" align="char"><p>0 (0%)</p></td><td char="(" align="char"><p>1 (2%)</p></td><td char="(" align="char"><p>0 (0%)</p></td><td char="(" align="char"><p>1 (2%)</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p> Hispanic</p></td><td char="(" align="char"><p>1 (2%)</p></td><td char="(" align="char"><p>1 (2%)</p></td><td char="(" align="char"><p>4 (7%)</p></td><td char="(" align="char"><p>6 (10%)</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p> Asian</p></td><td char="(" align="char"><p>1 (2%)</p></td><td char="(" align="char"><p>1 (2%)</p></td><td char="(" align="char"><p>2 (3%)</p></td><td char="(" align="char"><p>4 (7%)</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p> Bi/multiracial</p></td><td char="(" align="char"><p>1 (2%)</p></td><td char="(" align="char"><p>3 (5%)</p></td><td char="(" align="char"><p>1 (2%)</p></td><td char="(" align="char"><p>5 (9%)</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p> Other</p></td><td char="(" align="char"><p>0 (0%)</p></td><td char="(" align="char"><p>1 (2%)</p></td><td char="(" align="char"><p>1 (2%)</p></td><td char="(" align="char"><p>2 (3%)</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left" colspan="5"><p>Dependents</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p> Minors</p></td><td char="(" align="char"><p>10 (17%)</p></td><td char="(" align="char"><p>9 (15%)</p></td><td char="(" align="char"><p>12 (20%)</p></td><td char="(" align="char"><p>31 (53%)</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p> Adults</p></td><td char="(" align="char"><p>2 (3%)</p></td><td char="(" align="char"><p>0 (0%)</p></td><td char="(" align="char"><p>1 (2%)</p></td><td char="(" align="char"><p>3 (5%)</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left" colspan="5"><p>College</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p> Agriculture</p></td><td char="(" align="char"><p>1 (2%)</p></td><td char="(" align="char"><p>1 (2%)</p></td><td char="(" align="char"><p>2 (3%)</p></td><td char="(" align="char"><p>4 (7%)</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p> Business</p></td><td char="(" align="char"><p>1 (2%)</p></td><td char="(" align="char"><p>2 (3%)</p></td><td char="(" align="char"><p>0 (0%)</p></td><td char="(" align="char"><p>3 (5%)</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p> Education</p></td><td char="(" align="char"><p>3 (5%)</p></td><td char="(" align="char"><p>2 (3%)</p></td><td char="(" align="char"><p>2 (5%)</p></td><td char="(" align="char"><p>7 (12%)</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p> Engineering</p></td><td char="(" align="char"><p>3 (5%)</p></td><td char="(" align="char"><p>1 (2%)</p></td><td char="(" align="char"><p>0 (0%)</p></td><td char="(" align="char"><p>4 (7%)</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p> Arts & sciences</p></td><td char="(" align="char"><p>5 (9%)</p></td><td char="(" align="char"><p>8 (14%)</p></td><td char="(" align="char"><p>14 (24%)</p></td><td char="(" align="char"><p>27 (47%)</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p> Medicine</p></td><td char="(" align="char"><p>1 (2%)</p></td><td char="(" align="char"><p>1 (2%)</p></td><td char="(" align="char"><p>0 (0%)</p></td><td char="(" align="char"><p>2 (3%)</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p> Other</p></td><td char="(" align="char"><p>4 (7%)</p></td><td char="(" align="char"><p>5 (9%)</p></td><td char="(" align="char"><p>2 (3%)</p></td><td char="(" align="char"><p>11 (19%)</p></td></tr></tbody></table> </ephtml> </p> <p>During the fall of 2020, a team of interdisciplinary researchers conducted semi-structured, in-depth interviews over Zoom where participants were asked to respond to a variety of questions about changes in their work life and emotional labor[<reflink idref="bib7" id="ref115">7</reflink>] during the pandemic. The interviews ranged from 45 minutes to 2 hours in duration, with the average interview lasting just over 1 hour.[<reflink idref="bib8" id="ref116">8</reflink>] Each interview was recorded and transcribed by the interviewing researcher, and each participant was given a pseudonym to protect their identity.</p> <p>A team of sixty coders applied codes to the interview transcripts using a detailed codebook and a data analysis software platform (Dedoose, [<reflink idref="bib16" id="ref117">16</reflink>]).[<reflink idref="bib9" id="ref118">9</reflink>] To ensure consistency in the coding process, each transcript was coded independently by two different coders who later met to compare and adjust final codes as necessary. Once this initial phase of coding was complete, we compiled a list of all excerpts tagged with codes relevant to our conceptualization of compassion fatigue which included (<reflink idref="bib1" id="ref119">1</reflink>) concern for others, (<reflink idref="bib2" id="ref120">2</reflink>) burnout, and (<reflink idref="bib3" id="ref121">3</reflink>) emotional labor.[<reflink idref="bib10" id="ref122">10</reflink>] Next, we conducted a keyword search[<reflink idref="bib11" id="ref123">11</reflink>] of each transcript to ensure that we had not overlooked any excerpts relevant to our inquiry during this initial round of coding. After we were satisfied that our list was exhaustive, we began our second phase of coding. During this stage, we reread each excerpt line-by-line and looked for indicators of emotion management and both dimensions of compassion fatigue, i.e., burnout and STS. We coded all references to emotional exhaustion, stress, depersonalization, and hopelessness within the workplace as indicators of burnout, and we coded all references to stress related to empathic engagement with traumatized students or traumatized colleagues as indicators of STS. We also coded each excerpt for other signs/symptoms that have been associated with compassion fatigue—including feelings of depression, guilt, anxiety, and/or numbness; increased irritability; trouble sleeping; and an inability to empathize or show compassion for others. Although the bulk of our coding was concept-driven, we also took note of new and/or unexpected themes as they emerged from the data during this iterative process.</p> <p>While intentionally diverse, our sample is not a representative sample from a statistical perspective, and our findings are context specific. Nevertheless, we present descriptive statistics based on coded responses to qualitative interviews in Table 2 below. These figures are intended to provide a general sense of the variation of experiences among the participants in our research sample. The data are not intended to be generalizable beyond the specific context of this study.</p> <p>Table 2 Distribution of self-report changes in emotional labor, burnout, and compassion fatigue</p> <p> <ephtml> <table frame="hsides" rules="groups"><thead><tr><th align="left" /><th align="left"><p>Professional track (n = 18)</p></th><th align="left"><p>Tenure track (n = 20)</p></th><th align="left"><p>Tenured (n = 20)</p></th><th align="left"><p>Total (n = 58)</p></th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td align="left" colspan="5"><p>Emotional labor</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p> Increased</p></td><td char="(" align="char"><p>13 (72%)</p></td><td char="(" align="char"><p>12 (60%)</p></td><td char="(" align="char"><p>12 (60%)</p></td><td char="(" align="char"><p>37 (64%)</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p> Mixed effects</p></td><td char="(" align="char"><p>2 (11%)</p></td><td char="(" align="char"><p>1 (5%)</p></td><td char="(" align="char"><p>4 (20%)</p></td><td char="(" align="char"><p>7 (12%)</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p> Decreased</p></td><td char="(" align="char"><p>0 (0%)</p></td><td char="(" align="char"><p>2 (7%)</p></td><td char="(" align="char"><p>2 (7%)</p></td><td char="(" align="char"><p>4 (7%)</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p> No change</p></td><td char="(" align="char"><p>3 (17%)</p></td><td char="(" align="char"><p>5 (25%)</p></td><td char="(" align="char"><p>2 (7%)</p></td><td char="(" align="char"><p>10 (17%)</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left" colspan="5"><p>Compassion fatigue</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p> Burnout</p></td><td char="(" align="char"><p>8 (44%)</p></td><td char="(" align="char"><p>4 (20%)</p></td><td char="(" align="char"><p>4 (20%)</p></td><td char="(" align="char"><p>16 (28%)</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p> STS</p></td><td char="(" align="char"><p>3 (17%)</p></td><td char="(" align="char"><p>3 (15%)</p></td><td char="(" align="char"><p>0 (0%)</p></td><td char="(" align="char"><p>6 (10%)</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p> Reduced capacity for empathy</p></td><td char="(" align="char"><p>1 (6%)</p></td><td char="(" align="char"><p>1 (5%)</p></td><td char="(" align="char"><p>1 (5%)</p></td><td char="(" align="char"><p>3 (5%)</p></td></tr></tbody></table> </ephtml> </p> <hd id="AN0180588921-10">Findings</hd> <p></p> <hd id="AN0180588921-11">Institutional Shifts in Feeling Rules</hd> <p>In line with findings reported above by Waldbuesser et al. ([<reflink idref="bib64" id="ref124">64</reflink>]), many participants expressed that they had genuine feelings of affection for their students. As Eva (TT) noted, "I care about what happens to our students. I care about how they feel, while they are here and right now." Similarly, Emma (NTT) described looking "for the ones that are falling through the cracks," both before and during the pandemic; "Now, not everyone does that... I do, though. I follow up when I see students not turning in work, not coming to class. I've always done that." For many, like Emma and Eva, these feelings were not new or unique: caring for students was seen as part of their personal and professional identity. Thus, when the pandemic hit, these faculty felt as if they were taking on an even greater emotional burden. Another example came from Jane (NTT), who when asked about changes in her emotional labor stated:I tend to have a pretty high emotional load anyways because I care about my students and my colleagues a great deal. And that's just, it's hard for me to not, to turn that off. So, I had a tough time. I had a lot of anxiety for my students, the graduating seniors, going, like knowing that their graduation wasn't going to happen and things like that was very difficult in the spring... It [emotional labor] was much higher than normal in the spring. For others, the pandemic seemed to spark a rise in awareness of the types of extenuating circumstances that affect students and their academic performance on a daily basis. For example, Alistair (tenured) told us that he spends more time thinking about what is happening to his students outside of the classroom:I guess I worry about my students a bit more, ask myself what they're going through. Instead of just assuming a student is being lazy, I think about what other factors there may be. Maybe they have a full-time job or have to take care of their children or family. I've become more open to those possibilities, I would say. Cromwell (NTT) shared similar thoughts during his interview:Yes. I just tend to think about them [students] a bit more, in terms of what they are going through during this pandemic. Some are far away from their families in different countries. Some are struggling with employment or health. I've always tried to be understanding with my students, but this experience especially has increased that sensitivity. Interestingly, this perceived change in perspective among some faculty members did not go unnoticed. Several participants directly commented on also observing these changes in their colleagues. For these respondents, this rise in compassion and consideration was often viewed as a positive, community-wide phenomenon that was reciprocal in nature—extending from faculty-to-students and students-to-faculty, as well as from administrators-to-faculty and faculty to each other. For instance, when asked if there had been any positive changes to her life since the pandemic, Kimberly (NTT) replied:Students, I see them leaning on us as faculty, and we [faculty]... seem to be much more caring and asking students about their personal lives and how they're doing and helping them prioritize their needs... so I think that's been an improvement. In addition, this understanding extended beyond students, with multiple faculty members acknowledging that their colleagues were more empathetic. Kimberly further explained:I feel like with work colleagues and with my students both, I hear us saying to each other a lot more, "I'm so sorry, I forgot about this. It's COVID brain." "I'm so sorry that I didn't get this done. I dropped the ball on this," and then the other person says, "It's okay. This is a crappy time. We need to extend each other grace." There's so much more understanding that the extenuating circumstances make people not able to get stuff done on the original timeline, and that's okay. Lucille (tenured) also noticed this, that her colleagues seemed to be more understanding of others than they had been prior to the pandemic:I think people are also probably... more attentive to the idea that people have a lot going on that we don't know about behind the scenes. So, if someone says... they're at capacity and can't do it, they just accept that more. Reagan (TT) was happy to report that her colleagues were more flexible when it came to personal needs during the pandemic:Students and instructors alike, I feel, have been really understanding about the circumstances...... I was kind of nervous turning down an in-person session and asking to do a remote one because, I thought, oh, maybe they're not going to like that. Or, maybe that'll be a source of contention, but it was actually fantastic... they understood, and it was no problem. Thus, Kimberly, Lucille, and Reagan all reported some positive outcomes of the pandemic related to empathy, compassion, and understanding, especially among colleagues.</p> <p>Not all participants, however, saw this development as a positive outcome. For some, this rise in expectations for expressed compassion—a notable shift in the existing feeling rules—was seen as problematic because it contributed to the growth of an institutional culture in which faculty faced unrealistic expectations of care that extended beyond the traditional boundaries of their roles as professional educators. For example, Lina (tenured) told us how she looks forward to a time in the future when things will return to the pre-pandemic normal:They'll tell me about, you know, heavy stuff that's happening... things that make it hard for them to come to class or that sort of thing... I'm usually not a professor that has those kinds of relationships with students where they told me things about their personal lives. I sort of have a personality that discourages that, I think. But, definitely, I'm getting a lot more back from them now... I'm not going to, like, let students just drown... I don't like that it's part of my job, but I do think it's part of my responsibility. So, I'll deal with it for now and try to shut it down again in the future. In Lina's mind, this cultural shift in expectations for care was particularly difficult because it opened the door for students to begin sharing intimate personal details about themselves with her. While this newfound sense of familiarity was both uncomfortable and undesired, it was a responsibility that she felt she could not ignore.</p> <p>This is not a new phenomenon. Prior to the pandemic, Goode et al. ([<reflink idref="bib24" id="ref125">24</reflink>]) described a similar phenomenon, which they refer to as <emph>intrusive teaching</emph>, where faculty are "required to operate as a nexus of social and emotional support resources within the institutional contexts of 'best-practices in serving students' as part of the effort to increase student retention and persistence of the most vulnerable students" (p. 50; see Lawless, [<reflink idref="bib41" id="ref126">41</reflink>]).[<reflink idref="bib12" id="ref127">12</reflink>] Nonetheless, it seems the pandemic has amplified this growing trend of increased emotional and social expectations, as evidenced by professionals like Lina and others.</p> <p>Mary (NTT), for instance, expressed concerns that institutional calls for a higher level of compassion were taking things one-step too far:Apparently, I'm expected to manage all of my student's emotions, and that is not my job. My job is to teach them. I am not their second parent, and I am getting a lot of messages that it's now my job to take care of them and to make sure that they're okay when the school itself isn't making sure I'm okay. For Mary, the difference between <emph>caring for</emph> and <emph>taking care</emph><emph>of</emph> students was an important distinction that had become blurred. This blurring of boundaries was complicated by the fact that the upper administration did not extend the same level of care to the faculty that they expected the faculty to extend to their students.</p> <hd id="AN0180588921-12">Increasing Emotional Labor in Faculty-Student Relationships</hd> <p>Regardless of their personal feelings about this change in expectations, over half of the participants in our study (64%) agreed that the pandemic contributed to an increase in their emotional labor (see Table 2). The ways in which they managed this increase, however, varied from person-to-person. While some focused on managing the emotions of their students, others focused on managing their own emotions.</p> <p>Among those who engaged in other-focused labor, the primary technique used to display compassion and mitigate student distress was active listening. For these participants, it was abundantly clear that their students needed someone to talk to, so they intentionally made themselves available to listen and talk to students. For example, when asked to describe the pandemic's single greatest impact on her professional life, Ava (TT) recounted:[I was] just trying to meet the needs of my students, which suddenly seem to be much <emph>greater</emph> as we transitioned to a whole new class format and as we all sort of dealt with this huge interruption in our life... I would say it was emotionally traumatic for them and for everyone... I spent a lot of time just listening and talking to people. For some faculty, these conversations took place one-on-one outside the classroom, via email, phone call, or zoom, and could last for hours. Others, however, tried to take advantage of their time within the classroom to calm students and assuage some of their stress and anxiety. Hubert (TT), for example, described how he devoted some of his class time to make sure his students were doing okay emotionally:In the spring... I turned my Tuesday lectures into these sorts of....... moments of emotional labor... I tried to make space for..... for students to kind of check in, to kind of release. I've been starting our Thursday sessions [Fall 2020]... with meditation and focusing exercises, trying to help student's kind of release and.... and.... and kind of let some of the cares drift away, you know? For Hubert, and others like him, the classroom could be used as space to actively manage students' emotions by engaging them in informal therapeutic practices and conversations aimed at contextualizing their experiences and releasing negative emotions. Although these strategies may not have helped all students, it was an earnest attempt to provide some degree of additional emotional support. In cases like this, faculty members increased their emotional labor by regulating their own emotions while listening to students describe their emotional challenges.</p> <p>Although many participants engaged in such other-focused emotional labor practices, there were several faculty who primarily discussed self-focused emotional labor. For these participants, hiding their personal stress and frustration from students was the paramount concern. Amanda (NTT) described how she worked hard to make sure that her graduate assistants did not observe her stress:I don't want them [the teaching assistants] to see me stressed. That will then in turn stress them out and then their students. So, I do try to put on that positive face with them. For Amanda, personal emotions, if not properly managed, could negatively impact her students. Therefore, she felt as if she needed to suppress her true feelings and put on a front in order to maintain her sense of professionalism, protect her students, and keep her classes running smoothly.</p> <p>Some faculty continued to engage in this type of surface level acting even when they recognized that it could threaten their personal well-being. When asked how the pandemic was affecting her professional life, Catherine (NTT) clearly described the emotional labor that she took on within the classroom:...as a faculty member, I think that maybe we are less prone to access those [mental health care] tools, just because we need to look and seem strong for the students and for others. Sometimes, I'd think that certainly is how when I visit with my students and they're sharing their concerns, I have to hold back and say, "I can't show my emotions"... It's almost like you're covering up that, what really this feels like. You mediate the situation to make sure that others are doing well.</p> <hd id="AN0180588921-13">Compassion Fatigue</hd> <p>Regardless of the type of emotion management strategy participants engaged in, many (28%) described experiencing varying degrees of professional burnout. This was particularly true for NTT, like Karen, who were teaching more course sections and more students:I would just say the sheer amount of work was endless for the first couple of months. When you never have that feeling of- that you've accomplished something and can take a break, or that you have a little bit of time before you have to start working on other things. When you don't ever have that feeling of accomplishment, it certainly wears on you. Among these participants, high workloads resulting from the transition to remote work, coupled with negative work environments and/or low institutional support, led to feelings of being overwhelmed and exhausted. Anna (tenured) was balancing academic and administrative duties during the pandemic:There's so much to do in that office. I'm supposed to be 50/50, but I'm not. I'm 100/100 with everything. I am under a lot of stress. I am on the verge of collapsing. I really am. I hate COVID. I hate it. I haven't had any support from the university or the department. I have to say that I feel that I am very, very alone in this. For Anna, and many others, the pandemic presented a serious disruption to both her home and work life. However, the stress associated with her new workload was further heightened by the lack of support provided by her department and university at the time.</p> <p>While previous research has demonstrated that low levels of social support increase the risk of burnout, not all faculty members with whom we spoke felt unsupported like Anna. There were quite a few participants who felt well-supported by their colleagues and department heads but nevertheless felt burnt out. One additional factor that appears to have contributed to their burnout is that of uncertainty. For instance, when asked to describe the single greatest impact of the pandemic on his life, Lucas (NTT) talked about the challenges of dealing with multiple, on-going contingencies:Honestly, I would have to say, um, the mental stress. So, I live alone by choice, right? And so, when everything shut down, it was work from home. All the gyms closed. Don't go anywhere. Don't do anything. And, oh yeah, we're still going to teach class this summer. It's 100% online, preferably it's 100% online, asynchronous. Um, and so, it's just like, I would sit here and try and make my videos, and there are days that it's just like, I can't. Like, it was just sooooo much because I don't feel like we were getting, um, aligned information, right? We're getting so much information, but it wasn't aligned. And so, just like, is this happening, or is this happening? I don't know what's happening. I don't know what to prepare for. For Lucas, and others like him, the lack of certainty and stability promulgated by the mixed messages he received from various divisions within the university increased his daily level of stress. And, sometimes this stress reached such a height that he felt unable to do anything at all.</p> <p>While participants provided ample evidence to demonstrate that the pandemic contributed to faculty burnout, our interviews included little indication that the pandemic also contributed to a growth in work-related secondary traumatic stress (STS). Several of the faculty with whom we spoke described experiencing new behavioral challenges that have been identified as symptoms of STS such as difficulty sleeping or concentrating. But, very few directly connected these challenges, or their experiences of trauma in general, to their empathic engagement with students or colleagues. Consequently, it is difficult to determine whether these symptoms are indicators of compassion fatigue, STS, burnout, or some other malaise unrelated to their professional identity or work environment.</p> <p>Altogether, only a handful of participants (5%) clearly expressed the singular, telltale sign of compassion fatigue—an inability or lack of desire to empathize with others. Cyra (an older, tenured faculty member) was one of those participants. For Cyra, checking in with students who were frequently absent or missing work was a routine practice before the pandemic. During the pandemic, however, she lost several family members to COVID-19, and the grief she experienced from those losses coupled with her own personal health challenges and dissatisfaction with the university leadership at the time made her question her desire to remain in academia. When asked whether she had considered retirement, she responded:When students don't come to class... I usually take time to do this one-on-one meeting with them and say, okay, "... how are you doing?" or "...how are you doing? What's going on?" and all that. And, I have heard similar stories, and they burst into tears. So, when you see these things, emotionally, you think, okay, I don't want to do this. Life is too short. For Cyra, the pandemic created a myriad of new stressors which taxed her mental and physical health. She felt perpetually drained, and as a result, somewhat apathetic when confronted with the need to provide additional emotional support to her students.</p> <p>Like Cyra, Allison (TT) also felt emotionally taxed. However, the source of her stress and exhaustion was different from that of Cyra's. Allison was on research leave during the semester of our interview, so her interactions with undergraduate students were much more limited. Nevertheless, when she was presented with the opportunity to serve as an emotional support for students, she still felt as if she had to decline. As she explained:I had to decline because I emotionally didn't think I could handle it for the same reasons we were talking about - like empathy, the fact that my life was in transition and I didn't feel like I had a stable home, and the lab was struggling... I was really sad to say no to that... [but] as an empathetic person, if you carry everyone's load and you can't even carry your own... it becomes too much. Allison recognized that she did not have the emotional capacity needed to serve students in this way due to myriad other personal challenges she was facing at home and at work. However, she was still hopeful that once things stabilized in other aspects of her life, it would free up the "emotional space" necessary to provide students with additional emotional support. Allison explained that the research-related obstacles she faced during this time were a direct result of COVID-19; research-related activities were halted from mid-March until June and had lasting impacts beyond that timeframe. Regarding her housing instability, she explained, she was not displaced due to COVID-19, but "transitioning into a more permanent situation was difficult" because of the pandemic (e.g., apartment tours, mask requirements).</p> <p>Unlike Allison, who largely attributed this state of fatigue to her personal disposition as an empath, Isla (NTT) directly attributed her emotional exhaustion to her lack of training in counseling. When asked about changes in her emotional labor, for example, she replied:...every time you ask them how they are, they say that they're tired or they're stressed or they've got this exam or that exam. And, it's a very one way street. [<emph>Pause</emph>] And, I don't suffer with any of that shit, but I feel like I take that burden on and that just sucks the energy out of you. I am a teacher. I didn't expect to be a psychologist because I'm not trained for that, right?... When you're trained as a psychologist, they give you ways to... flick that negative energy away, and I don't have those tools, right? For Isla, this problem was compounded by her fear that some students were taking advantage of her attempts to be compassionate and using the situation for their personal, academic gain. Ultimately, the stress and emotional exhaustion induced by these experiences and the pandemic writ large led Isla, like Cyra, to contemplate quitting academia.</p> <hd id="AN0180588921-14">Reductions in Emotional Labor</hd> <p>Although most participants (64%) agreed that the pandemic contributed to an increase in their emotional labor, there were some who felt that their emotional labor had remained the same (17%) or even decreased in some way (7%) since the onset of the pandemic. Participants' views about the causes of these changes in their emotional labor (or the lack thereof), however, seemed to vary by gender.</p> <p>Among the women, for instance, reductions in emotional labor were typically described as the intended consequences of their own strategic behavior within the workplace. As Reagan (TT) explained:I'm pretty protective about the kinds of things that I take on, even if people asked me to do things... I'm always kind of conscious of, like, what other work we're creating for other people too... We were talking about making, like, subcommittees and having zoom meetings. And, I'm like, look, do we really want to be making.... other zoom meeting[s]? Do we want to be adding to this if we don't have to? We don't want to be asking people to do more if that's not really necessary right now. So, I think I'm really cognizant... Because you do have to keep your... commitments at a level where you can be invested in them and not all over the place. The pandemic, in other words, did not have a negative effect on Reagan's emotional labor load because she was already consciously guarding her time. She was aware of the risks associated with over-commitment and strategically acted to prevent herself from becoming overburdened and overwhelmed by openly questioning the need for additional labor.</p> <p>Reagan, however, was somewhat unique. While she—despite her status as an untenured faculty member—felt comfortable voicing her concerns about over-committing, most of the other women faculty with whom we spoke whose emotional labor did not increase during this time appear to have adopted less conspicuous self-protective strategies. As Bridgett (TT) revealed:I would say it [my emotional labor] has decreased... When I'm in a room and feeling the need to be that person who is mediating conflict, it is way easier in a Zoom room to just hit mute and do nothing... and sometimes, I feel bad about it, but most times I'm, like, also such a relief... I'm not this person's supervisor... mute. Y'all go fight. I'll just go get a cup of coffee. For Bridgett, the switch to remote work was, in some ways, positive because it provided her with the ability to tune out or walk away from certain emotionally charged interactions that she would normally feel obligated to intervene in. And, while Bridgett found the mute function to be particularly useful under these circumstances, there were also several faculty who discussed the benefits of being able to turn off their cameras as well. As Lorraine (tenured), for example, described:They [the other faculty] behaved terribly with me, and I thought, I don't want to see any of them... [Now] I don't have to, and it's beautiful, you know? In department meetings, actually, I do not switch on my video screen. I participate in the meeting, and they talk and whatever. But as far as I can, I don't show my face. It's a way to be behind a screen, you know [<emph>laughter</emph>]. It is terrible, but it's true. For Lorraine, and others like her, the pandemic offered a sort of emotional respite. It provided newfound opportunities for faculty to quietly disengage from undesired interpersonal interactions (and the corresponding emotion work) by muting or turning off their videos during remote conference calls or physically closing their office doors.</p> <p>Among the men, on the other hand, conversations about emotional labor turned, at times, into discussions about family/home life and the emotional labor of their wives. For example, when asked how his emotional labor load had changed during the pandemic, David (tenured) responded:Okay. Well, I would say that for the most [part], I've been able to be stable because I realized that so much of the mood in my home depends on my mood. If I'm angry or if I'm sad, everyone suffers. When I'm being clownish and fun, everyone's happy. I've been able, for the most [part], to stay stable. Or, as Henry (TT) recounted, when discussing the emotional challenges of maintaining a healthy work-life balance during the pandemic:It didn't affect me in any negative way, but I definitely knew it was there. I guess there's more balls to juggle in the air... Just being a bit more conscious about understanding when my wife really needs a break or the kids really need me, things like that. For these faculty members, the pandemic did not appear to have a direct impact on the amount of emotional labor that they were performing.[<reflink idref="bib13" id="ref128">13</reflink>] It did, however, impact them indirectly because of the increased burden that was placed on their spouses at work and at home. And, although not all male faculty ascribed to this explanation, there were a few who directly attributed such outcomes to their ability to control their emotions, a form of self-directed emotional labor. As Sam (TT) explained,I feel like I'm a pretty, quiet, boring guy. I don't get too worked up in my emotions. Obviously, I get disappointed, and I get stressed out. But, I get over it really quick, so... I don't think I've been affected that much... like, I've kind of said, I just feel fortunate to have a job. So, I try to keep things in perspective whenever I get emotionally down or emotionally too high. Like you know, I'm fine. Everything's fine...really is fine... Now, my wife had a lot of ups and downs, but I know it's not about her. Thus, as highlighted by these participants, we found some gender differences in how participants thought and spoke about their experiences with emotional labor during the pandemic. Nevertheless, because of the size and characteristics of our sample, we must emphasize that these findings are not intended to be generalizable beyond the context of the present study.</p> <hd id="AN0180588921-15">Discussion and Conclusion</hd> <p>In this study, we sought to examine how the pandemic contributed to faculty well-being—with specific respect to their emotional labor and compassion fatigue. The data used in our analysis came from a larger, longitudinal study examining the broader impacts of COVID-19 on the productivity and work-life balance of academics. Results from this initial exploratory analysis suggest that the pandemic contributed to a rise in institutional expectations for greater compassion within the classroom. For most faculty, however, this institutional shift in feeling rules did not contribute to a simultaneous rise in compassion fatigue.</p> <p>Very few faculty reported experiencing signs of workplace STS—one of the two dimensions of compassion fatigue. STS is defined as a consequence of sustained empathic engagement with the pain and suffering of others (Figley, [<reflink idref="bib21" id="ref129">21</reflink>]). While faculty within our sample acknowledged the existence of cultural expectations for compassion and care within faculty-student interactions, most did not attribute the myriad challenges that they were facing during the pandemic to their empathic engagement with students. We suspect that this may be due, in part, to the fact that institutions of higher education are structured in a way that insulates most faculty from the risks of empathic distress.</p> <p>Unlike teachers in K-12 programs who often interact with the same, small groups of students on a daily basis over the course of an entire year, for instance, faculty in institutions of higher education often have larger classes that meet just 2–3 times per week for 3–4 months at a time. Additionally, tenured and tenure-track faculty at R1s in particular tend to have lighter teaching loads than other educators. Within these contexts, it is difficult for faculty to get to know students in the same way that educators in primary and secondary schools do. As a result, many university faculty do not view empathic engagement with their students as a central component of their jobs. As several participants noted, there is a difference between <emph>caring for</emph> and <emph>taking care of</emph> students, and faculty roles call for the former rather than the latter.</p> <p>With that said, many faculty with whom we spoke did express high levels of burnout—the second dimension of compassion fatigue. These findings, in our opinion, point to the need to extend conversations within higher education about the importance of mental health and well-being to faculty. Faculty typically receive messages that they must publish or perish. They must accomplish certain tasks—related to research, teaching, and service—to be considered productive and succeed within the field. As a result, professional development workshops tend to focus on how faculty can improve their performance in teaching or research and how they can prepare for promotion. Nevertheless, as made evident by the pandemic, there are times when such a work ethic is not sustainable.</p> <p>Consequently, we recommend that colleges and universities invested in the well-being of faculty consider increasing awareness about the specific risks of faculty burnout and developing appropriate institutional mechanisms of support. For example, colleges and universities could offer educational workshops that teach administrative leaders and faculty mentors about the signs and symptoms of burnout. Leaders and faculty mentors could then strategically plan to check in with faculty and work with those experiencing symptoms to develop individually tailored solutions. Such solutions might include a temporary lightening of the faculty member's load (e.g., fewer new course preparations, smaller class sizes, or service assignments that are less time intensive), the provision of additional resources (e.g., a teaching assistant, research funds to conduct a pilot study, or information about university programs devoted to wellness), and/or a tenure clock extension. Our study finds that many faculty who were experiencing burnout felt that they did not have the support of their department or college leadership. Those universities, department chairs, and faculty mentors who demonstrate their understanding and willingness to help faculty get through such temporary situations should have a positive impact on faculty well-being and minimize the most severe cases of burnout.</p> <p>Although less than a handful of our participants described experiencing compassion fatigue, given some of the limitations of this study, our findings do not necessarily confirm the absence of compassion fatigue within higher education more broadly. To begin with, this study was restricted to a relatively small sample of faculty working within a single organizational context. The university was in a setting that experienced moderate levels of COVID-19 infections (relative to the U.S. population), and the university itself did not experience significant budgetary constraints due to the pandemic. Consequently, the dynamics of academic life revealed within this study may not be reflective of the dynamics of other types of institutions—such as smaller liberal arts or community colleges, particularly in settings with extremely high rates of COVID-19 infections. Additionally, participants in this study were asked a number of questions that were likely to elicit descriptions of compassion fatigue, but they were never directly asked about their experiences of compassion fatigue. Therefore, it is possible that some participants were experiencing STS, and we simply failed to capture those experiences because most signs and symptoms associated with STS are indiscernible from the signs and symptoms of other stressors. Future research should consider both possibilities and adjust the methodology as needed to fulfill these aims.</p> <hd id="AN0180588921-16">Acknowledgements</hd> <p>The authors of this paper would like to acknowledge the valuable contributions that other individuals made to this paper. The following individuals provided valuable feedback to the original design of this project and the final manuscript: Mindy Bergman, Mary Campbell, Tracy Hammond, Claire Katz, Blanca Lupiani, Stephanie Payne, Christine Stanley, and Heather Wilkinson. Katie Constantin coordinated all of the interviews, and Rose Siuta coordinated the coding process. Linzi Berkowitz, Gemini Creason-Parker, Clarissa Fischer, Elizabeth D. Jenkins, Kevin Johnson, Angelique Nevarez Maes, Aigul Seralinova, Cynthia Werner, and Michelle Yeoman conducted and transcribed interviews. The following team members coded the interview transcripts: Aigul Seralinova, Casey Black, Kate Biehl, Catherine Brooks, Madison Gulley, Benyt Hagler, Byeibitgul Khaumyen, Jaqueline Mendez, Paige Musgrave, Shreya Rao, Lawren Lee Walker, Kristi Azali, Jessica Chamberlin, Arantxa Checa, Erin Feng, Vanessa Garcia, Sydney Garcia, Kenzi Gray, Smriti Kolar, Kyle Kowalski, Corrigan LeValley, James Lifton, Cliona Mai, Arqaa Manashia, Mia Mizan; Marisol Palacios, Anji Patel, Henna Patel, Tia Patel, Fred Perreault, Keke Sivakumar, Susan Varghese, Anahi Flores Ventura, Priya Venkatasubramaniam, Natalie Auyeung, Daniela Martinez Banda, Sarah Clark, Vanessa Contreras, Alysa de la Cruz, Mia Degitz, Benjamin Davis, Taylor Edwards, Reagan Emery, Emily Fillip, Isaac Gutierrez, Jonathan Hagwood, Gabriela Hansen, Julia Jiang, Rubab Khan, Grace Marshall, Bethle Mekonnen, Kamryn Moore, Khai Nguyen, Kirtan Patel, Kripa Patel, Jackie Quiroga, Marie Seybel, Moizuddin Shah, Joshua Turner, Carolyn Vazquez, Lauren Young, Sophia Zhong, and Haley Zimmerman.</p> <hd id="AN0180588921-17">Funding</hd> <p>The research leading to these results received funding from the following units (and former units) at Texas A&M University: the School of Innovation, the College of Liberal Arts, the Office for Diversity, and the Melbern G. Glasscock Center for Humanities Research.</p> <hd id="AN0180588921-18">Data availability</hd> <p>The data are available from the authors upon request.</p> <hd id="AN0180588921-19">Publisher's Note</hd> <p>Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.</p> <ref id="AN0180588921-20"> <title> References </title> <blist> <bibl id="bib1" idref="ref10" type="bt">1</bibl> <bibtext> Abendroth M, Flannery J. Predicting the risk of compassion fatigue: A study of hospice nurses. Journal of Hospice & Palliative Nursing. 2006; 8; 6: 346-356. 10.1097/00129191-200611000-00007</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibl id="bib2" idref="ref23" type="bt">2</bibl> <bibtext> Adams R, Boscarino J, Figley C. Compassion fatigue and psychological distress among social workers: A validation study. 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Class and compassion: Socioeconomic factors predict responses to suffering. Emotion. 2012; 12; 3: 449-459. 10.1037/a0026508</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Tugend, A. (2020). On the verge of burnout: COVID-19's impact on faculty well-being and career plans. Chronicle of Higher Education. https://connect.chronicle.com/rs/931-EKA-218/images/Covid%26FacultyCareerPaths_Fidelity_ResearchBrief_v3%20%281%29.pdf</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Tunguz S. In the eye of the beholder: Emotional labor in academia varies with tenure and gender. Studies in Higher Education. 2016; 41; 1: 3-20. 10.1080/03075079.2014.914919</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Vaccaro C, Swauger M, Morrison S, Heckert A. Sociological conceptualizations of compassion fatigue: Expanding our understanding. Sociology Compass. 2020; 15. 10.1111/soc4.12844</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Waldbuesser C, Rubinsky V, Titsworth S. Teacher emotional labor: Examining teacher feeling rules in the college classroom. Communication Education. 2021; 70; 4: 384-401. 10.1080/03634523.2021.1936097</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Wehlburg, C. (2023, April 21). Understanding compassion fatigue and how to prevent it. Times Higher Education. https://<ulink href="http://www.timeshighereducation.com/campus/understanding-compassion-fatigue-and-how-prevent-it">www.timeshighereducation.com/campus/understanding-compassion-fatigue-and-how-prevent-it</ulink></bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Wharton AS. The sociology of emotional labor. Annual Review of Sociology. 2009; 35: 147-165. 10.1146/annurev-soc-070308-115944</bibtext> </blist> </ref> <ref id="AN0180588921-21"> <title> Footnotes </title> <blist> <bibtext> For a more extensive review of the concept of emotional labor, see Wharton ([66]).</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Bernard ([8], p. 131) dubbed this phenomenon in higher education "academic momism".</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Most literature examining this concept utilizes the term "compassion fatigue" and describes it as a consequence of the chronic use of empathy (Figley, [21]; Newell & MacNeil, [49]). For an exception, see Dukes ([17]) who uses the term "empathy deficit".</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> The larger study involved two rounds of semi-structured interviews with 100 participants representing five different categories of scholars—tenured faculty, tenure track faculty, professional track faculty, post-doctoral researchers, and graduate students enrolled in doctoral programs at the University. The first round of interviews were conducted between September and December of 2020. The second round of interviews were conducted between April and June of 2021.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Among the tenured faculty, 50% were associate professors and the other 50% were full professors.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> At the time of the study, approximately 66% of the faculty at the university were men, and 33% were women. We had hoped to recruit a balanced sample. However, we ended up having to over-sample women in order to meet our quota for each faculty category.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Emotional labor was defined by interviewers as "the emotional energy and psychological stress that you might experience while regulating and managing emotions that arise at work".</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Each participant received a $25 gift card to either amazon or a local business after each interview.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> New coders were recruited in three different periods of time, corresponding to the academic calendar. The majority of coders worked for just one period of time (e.g. one semester or the summer), but several coders worked for multiple periods of time.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Given compassion fatigue is a consequence of emotional labor, we analyzed responses regarding faculty emotional labor during the pandemic to gain insight into potential experiences of compassion fatigue.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> The keywords targeted in this search included "compassion", "care", "empath(y)", "stress", "strain", "emotion", "exhaust(ion)(ed)", "student(s)", and/or "teach(ing)".</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> The authors would like to thank an anonymous reviewer for calling our attention to this important and related concept.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> This aligns with the existing literature, as students are less likely to request emotional support from male educators than their female colleagues (see Berheide et al., [7]; El-Alayli et al., [18]).</bibtext> </blist> </ref> <aug> <p>By Katie Constantin; Gemini Creason-Parker; Cynthia Werner; Elizabeth D. Jenkins; Vansa Shewakramani Hanson and Rose L. Siuta</p> <p>Reported by Author; Author; Author; Author; Author; Author</p> </aug> <nolink nlid="nl1" bibid="bib54" firstref="ref1"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl2" bibid="bib56" firstref="ref2"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl3" bibid="bib27" firstref="ref4"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl4" bibid="bib65" firstref="ref5"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl5" bibid="bib14" firstref="ref7"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl6" bibid="bib36" firstref="ref8"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl7" bibid="bib50" firstref="ref9"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl8" bibid="bib19" firstref="ref11"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl9" bibid="bib29" firstref="ref12"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl10" bibid="bib23" firstref="ref13"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl11" bibid="bib52" firstref="ref14"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl12" bibid="bib62" firstref="ref18"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl13" bibid="bib26" firstref="ref19"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl14" bibid="bib45" firstref="ref20"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl15" bibid="bib64" firstref="ref21"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl16" bibid="bib18" firstref="ref29"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl17" bibid="bib38" firstref="ref32"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl18" bibid="bib60" firstref="ref33"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl19" bibid="bib63" firstref="ref34"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl20" bibid="bib12" firstref="ref35"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl21" bibid="bib43" firstref="ref38"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl22" bibid="bib35" firstref="ref43"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl23" bibid="bib15" firstref="ref44"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl24" bibid="bib33" firstref="ref45"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl25" bibid="bib21" firstref="ref46"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl26" bibid="bib34" firstref="ref47"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl27" bibid="bib28" firstref="ref48"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl28" bibid="bib59" firstref="ref51"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl29" bibid="bib49" firstref="ref54"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl30" bibid="bib10" firstref="ref57"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl31" bibid="bib11" firstref="ref58"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl32" bibid="bib32" firstref="ref59"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl33" bibid="bib51" firstref="ref62"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl34" bibid="bib22" firstref="ref65"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl35" bibid="bib30" firstref="ref66"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl36" bibid="bib44" firstref="ref67"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl37" bibid="bib20" firstref="ref69"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl38" bibid="bib39" firstref="ref77"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl39" bibid="bib42" firstref="ref86"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl40" bibid="bib13" firstref="ref87"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl41" bibid="bib53" firstref="ref89"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl42" bibid="bib48" firstref="ref90"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl43" bibid="bib55" firstref="ref91"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl44" bibid="bib58" firstref="ref92"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl45" bibid="bib57" firstref="ref93"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl46" bibid="bib31" firstref="ref101"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl47" bibid="bib47" firstref="ref103"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl48" bibid="bib37" firstref="ref108"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl49" bibid="bib46" firstref="ref109"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl50" bibid="bib61" firstref="ref110"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl51" bibid="bib25" firstref="ref111"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl52" bibid="bib16" firstref="ref117"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl53" bibid="bib24" firstref="ref125"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl54" bibid="bib41" firstref="ref126"></nolink>
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  Data: Caring Too Much? Emotional Labor and Compassion Fatigue among Faculty during the COVID-19 Pandemic
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  Data: English
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  Group: Au
  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Katie+Constantin%22">Katie Constantin</searchLink> (ORCID <externalLink term="http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5220-3323">0000-0002-5220-3323</externalLink>)<br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Gemini+Creason-Parker%22">Gemini Creason-Parker</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Cynthia+Werner%22">Cynthia Werner</searchLink> (ORCID <externalLink term="http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2662-8088">0000-0002-2662-8088</externalLink>)<br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Elizabeth+D%2E+Jenkins%22">Elizabeth D. Jenkins</searchLink> (ORCID <externalLink term="http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1777-0656">0000-0002-1777-0656</externalLink>)<br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Vansa+Shewakramani+Hanson%22">Vansa Shewakramani Hanson</searchLink> (ORCID <externalLink term="http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6054-7196">0000-0001-6054-7196</externalLink>)<br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Rose+L%2E+Siuta%22">Rose L. Siuta</searchLink> (ORCID <externalLink term="http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0910-9892">0000-0002-0910-9892</externalLink>)
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="SO" term="%22Research+in+Higher+Education%22"><i>Research in Higher Education</i></searchLink>. 2024 65(7):1540-1560.
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  Data: Springer. Available from: Springer Nature. One New York Plaza, Suite 4600, New York, NY 10004. Tel: 800-777-4643; Tel: 212-460-1500; Fax: 212-460-1700; e-mail: customerservice@springernature.com; Web site: https://link.springer.com/
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  Data: 21
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  Data: 2024
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  Data: Journal Articles<br />Reports - Research
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  Label: Education Level
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="EL" term="%22Higher+Education%22">Higher Education</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="EL" term="%22Postsecondary+Education%22">Postsecondary Education</searchLink>
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  Label: Descriptors
  Group: Su
  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Emotional+Response%22">Emotional Response</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Psychological+Patterns%22">Psychological Patterns</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Altruism%22">Altruism</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Fatigue+%28Biology%29%22">Fatigue (Biology)</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22College+Faculty%22">College Faculty</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22COVID-19%22">COVID-19</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Pandemics%22">Pandemics</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Caring%22">Caring</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Stress+Variables%22">Stress Variables</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Trauma%22">Trauma</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Teaching+Experience%22">Teaching Experience</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Teacher+Burnout%22">Teacher Burnout</searchLink>
– Name: DOI
  Label: DOI
  Group: ID
  Data: 10.1007/s11162-024-09799-2
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  Label: ISSN
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  Data: 0361-0365<br />1573-188X
– Name: Abstract
  Label: Abstract
  Group: Ab
  Data: The COVID-19 pandemic brought abrupt changes to teaching that caused increased stress amid an already difficult time. Whether teaching remote, hybrid, or in-person, university faculty were expected to continue teaching throughout the pandemic, despite personal challenges at home. In addition, there were expectations that faculty show greater levels of compassion towards their students. Multiple articles brought attention to these struggles and questioned whether university faculty might be experiencing compassion fatigue--a state of emotional exhaustion brought on by secondary traumatic stress and characterized by a reduced capacity for empathy. Using data from a larger, longitudinal qualitative study of faculty members' experiences during the pandemic, the present study aims to understand faculty experiences of emotional labor and compassion fatigue during this time. Unsurprisingly, most participants reported an increase in emotional labor during the early pandemic; however, roughly one in four described their emotional labor loads as unchanged or even decreased. In those cases, participants often described active disengagement practices in the workplace, or methods of "guarding one's time." Overall, compassion fatigue was less evident than anticipated, but there were identifiable signs of burnout among participants. This finding alone suggests a need for additional research to better conceptualize and operationalize the two terms.
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  Data: 2024
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  Data: EJ1446294
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      – SubjectFull: Altruism
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