Psychosocial hazards in mental healthcare contribute to the development of compassion fatigue in mental health professionals. Compassion fatigue has a negative impact on the mental health and wellbeing of professionals that can impair the quality of services provided to clients. The majority of research on compassion fatigue has focused on individual-level variables such as gender, history of trauma and age, among others. It is also imperative to understand the role played by alterable work-related characteristics in contributing to the development of compassion fatigue in order to attenuate its impact on mental health professionals and their clients. The present review examined articles exploring work-related factors associated with compassion fatigue. Fifteen quantitative studies were included and their quality was assessed using a checklist. An inductive content-analysis approach was adopted to synthesise the themes emerging from the data. The results suggested a theoretical model consistent with the Job Demands-Resources model, wherein job demands (such as workplace trauma, workload and therapeutic settings) are associated with compassion fatigue, and job resources (such as supervisors’, coworkers’ and organisational support) mitigate the impact of job demands. In addition to person-oriented factors, work-related factors are critical for the prevention of compassion fatigue.

Annual costs to organizations of poor mental health are estimated to be between £33 billion and £42 billion. The UK's National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) has produced evidence-based guidance on improving employees' psychological health, designed to encourage organizations to take preventative steps in tackling this high toll. However, the extent of implementation is not known outside the National Health Service. To assess the awareness and implementation of NICE guidance on workplace psychological health. A total of 163 organizations participated in a survey of UK-based private, public and third sector organizations employing an accumulated minimum of 322 033 workers. Seventy-seven per cent of organizations were aware of the NICE guidance for improving mental well-being in the workplace, but only 37% were familiar with its recommendations. Less than half were aware of systems in place for monitoring employees' mental well-being and only 12% confirmed that this NICE guidance had been implemented in their workplace. Where employee health and well-being featured as a regular board agenda item, awareness and implementation of NICE guidance were more likely. Significant associations were found between organizational sector and size and uptake of many specific features of NICE guidance. The majority of organizations are aware of NICE guidance in general, but there is a wide gap between this and possession of detailed knowledge and implementation. The role of sector and size of organization is relevant to uptake of some features of NICE guidance, although organizational leadership is important where raised awareness and implementation are concerned.

Purpose: Despite extensive psychometric research on psychosocial assessment tools, comparatively little explores the practical application and evaluation of these tools for prioritising workplace psychosocial risks. This paper addresses this gap by illustrating the use of one popular, freely available measure in an applied risk assessment context, alongside qualitative data, highlighting questions and challenges for organisations.Design/methodology/approach: 1,425 employees from a UK public-sector organisation completed the Management Standards Indicator Tool (MSIT), General Health Questionnaire, and open-text questions about stress-related and positive aspects of work. Three approaches to analysing MSIT data were adopted: descriptive statistics, multiple regression and risk calculation, complemented by analysis of open-text qualitative data.Findings: Demands and change were ranked prominently by each method; however, there were major inconsistencies, for example, relationships ranked first using one method but sixth by another. Qualitative comments broadly reflected quantitative analyses, with demands mentioned most frequently, but highlighted issues and nuances not covered by the MSIT.Research limitations/implications: Only a selection of potential approaches to analysis is considered here, future research to support employers with analysis and evaluation of quantitative risk assessment data would be valuable.Practical implications: Risk-assessors’ choice of analysis could have major implications for where employers direct resources, supporting existing guidance to avoid sole reliance on quantitative surveys for risk assessment.Originality/value: This paper builds on the necessary–but not sufficient–psychometric foundations of risk assessment tools, integrating qualitative data and illustrating questions and challenges in applying them for their stated purpose.