South African speech-language therapists’ and audiologists’ professional quality of life

Abstract

Background: Limited research is available regarding the professional quality of life experiences of South African speech-language therapists and audiologists, despite the implications this has for wellbeing, quality of patient care, productivity and attrition from the professions.

Objectives: This study explored levels of compassion satisfaction, burnout, and secondary traumatic stress, the relationships between these, differences on the basis of registration and years of experience and participants’ perceptions of their professional quality of life.

Method: A sample of 92 South African speech-language therapists and audiologists completed an online survey that included the Professional Quality of Life (ProQOL) scale. The data were analysed using descriptive statistics, analysis of variation (ANOVA), correlations and thematic analysis.

Results: The findings indicated that participants experienced slightly higher levels of secondary traumatic stress and burnout and slightly lower levels of compassion satisfaction than international samples. There were significant inter-relationships between the three elements of professional quality of life, and no significant differences for these on the basis of registration or years of experience. Participants identified a range of factors that contributed to their experiences of compassion satisfaction and fatigue, as well as suggestions for improvement.

Conclusion: Professional quality of life plays an important role in South African speech-language therapists and audiologists’ professionalism, job performance and satisfaction and retention.

Contribution: The data collected provide valuable insights into the professional quality of life experiences of South African speech-language therapists and audiologists, as well as those working in similar contexts. It also offers suggestions that may contribute to future research and interventions.