EFFECT OF MINDFULNESS-BASED COGNITIVE THERAPY ON SCHOOL COUNSELORS’ COMPASSION FATIGUE AND BURNOUT: A RANDOMIZED CONTROLLED TRIAL

Abstract

Objective This paper aims to elaborate the findings of research examining the effect of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) in the form of counseling and a psychoeducational group aimed at reducing compassion fatigue (CF) and burnout (BO) amongst school counselors in Indonesia.

Method The research used an experimental design with a randomized controlled trial (RCT), involving 34 subjects selected from 239 school counselors. The experiment was conducted with pre-test (T1), post-test 1 (T2), post-test 2 (T3), and follow-up (T4) measurements during the 6 months of the research. The results were then analyzed using mixed ANOVA.

Results The findings indicated some effects of MBCT intervention in reducing school counselors’ compassion fatigue and burnout. Overall, the research succeeds in generalizing the application of MBCT to reduce school counselors’ CF and BO in Indonesia.

Conclusions The findings of the study suggested that the MBCT intervention applied in a counseling format consistently contributes immediate-term effects, while those of the psychoeducation group tend to be temporary.

Keywords: Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy, compassion fatigue, burnout, school counselor