2024/08/07 by Heather Boetto · 1 voice · 9 citations
Engineering · Health Professions · Psychology · Social Sciences · #Applied psychology #Burnout #Business #Clinical psychology #Compassion fatigue #Disaster Management and Resilience #Disaster Response and Management #Disaster preparedness #Emergency management #Engineering #Political science #Preparedness #Psychological resilience #Psychology #Public relations #Resilience (materials science) #Social Work Education and Practice #Social psychology #Social work #Work (physics)
paper · pdf · doi:10.1177/00208728241269717
published in International Social Work 67(6), 1327-1340 (SAGE Publishing)
openalex publication_date 2024/08/07 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/03
An increase in exposure to successive disaster events is causing widespread adverse impacts on social workers worldwide, resulting in escalated levels of stress and exhaustion. This article examines the concept of disaster fatigue and its impact on social workers engaging in disaster practice. A SAFE framework for addressing disaster fatigue is outlined involving: (S) sustaining self-care; (A) adopting a trauma-informed approach; (F) fostering professional capability; and (E) enhancing disaster preparedness. Implications for social work involve the need to move beyond individualised notions of burnout, compassion fatigue and secondary traumatic stress towards a collective and multidimensional approach to enhancing disaster resilience.