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This page is an AI-assisted Turkish summary of the study presented at the 26th World Congress of Psychiatry. The study belongs to the presenting authors; please refer to the original source when citing it.

EV0766

Psychological safety and compassion fatigue among mental health professionals: a cross-sectional study

PSYCHOLOGICAL SAFETY AND COMPASSION FATIGUE IN MENTAL HEALTHCARE WORKERS: A CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY

Psychological safety appears to be a protective factor for mental health professionals, associated with better psychological well-being and more favorable working conditions.

The study aimed to examine the relationship between psychological safety and staff well-being (depression, hopelessness, compassion fatigue/satisfaction, forgiveness) and working conditions (professional commitment, self-directed learning) in psychiatric residential rehabilitation settings. A cross-sectional survey was conducted with 97 healthcare professionals (56 women, 41 men; mean age 41.23 years), all directly responsible for patient care, at psychiatric residential rehabilitation centers in Southern Italy. The anonymous self-report questionnaire included Edmondson's 7-item Psychological Safety Scale, the PHQ-9, the ProQOL (burnout, secondary traumatic stress, compassion satisfaction), the Heartland Forgiveness Scale, the Beck Hopelessness Scale, and 2 items measuring professional commitment and self-directed learning; descriptive statistics, correlations, and multivariable regression models (JASP, R) were used in the analysis. Higher compassion satisfaction showed moderate-to-strong associations with lower burnout (r approximately -0.60) and lower secondary traumatic stress (r approximately -0.45); a strong positive association was found between burnout and secondary traumatic stress (r approximately 0.75). Mean PHQ-9 scores were in the mild-to-moderate range (approximately 9–10 points), indicating generally elevated depressive and anxiety symptoms. In adjusted multivariable models, higher psychological safety remained associated with lower levels of depressive symptoms (PHQ-9), hopelessness (BHS), burnout, and secondary traumatic stress, as well as higher compassion satisfaction, forgiveness (HFS), professional commitment, and self-directed learning. In conclusion, fostering a psychologically safe team climate is recommended as a practical, low-cost organizational strategy to prevent compassion fatigue and maintain quality of care.

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