Specialist Rehabilitation Providers' Experiences With an Online Self-Compassion Course: Reflexive Thematic Analysis.
Eva Cohen, Kristina M Kokorelias, Dorothy Luong and 10 others
Most of the 20 rehab HCPs interviewed had never been self-compassionate toward themselves.
The course gave them words for burnout and basic self-compassion tools, but heavy caseloads, no quiet space, and scheduling conflicts made it hard to sustain the practice after the course ended.
Key findings
1Most participants had never practiced self-compassion toward themselves and found the concept new, even though they recognized being compassionate to their patients.
2Participants reported gaining a clearer vocabulary for burnout and compassion fatigue and basic self-compassion tools, but systemic barriers such as large caseloads, time pressure, and the absence of a quiet space limited their ability to keep up the practice.
3The online format let providers join from multiple sites and saved travel time, but the course ran during lunch (forcing participants to skip charting time) and several found it uncomfortable to be emotionally vulnerable in a group of peers online.
Still to come
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What it does not show
All participants worked in the Greater Toronto Area, so the findings may not apply to rural settings or to other countries, where role-sharing and caseload pressures differ. Six of the 26 course participants did not agree to be interviewed, and the authors note this may reflect self-selection bias: those with less positive experiences may have been less willing to participate. No quantitative outcomes (burnout scores, compassion fatigue measures, STS scores) were measured before or after the course, so the course's effect on these constructs is unknown. Social desirability bias may have influenced responses, particularly around disclosing burnout-related feelings given stigma and employment concerns. The course was delivered by a specialist neuro-occupational therapist, which may have shaped the content and framing toward an OT perspective.
Declared interests
Funded entirely by an Associated Medical Services Fellowship in Compassion and AI. Two authors (SM and KMK) hold editorial roles at JMIR Rehabilitation and Assistive Technologies, the journal that published this paper.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read the participants' positive reports as evidence the course reduces burnout. No quantitative outcomes were measured, and 6 of the 26 course participants declined to interview, which may mean those with less positive experiences are not represented.
Summarised by AI from the full paper, without a clinician reviewing it. Check it against the source before it changes what you do. Read it on PubMed →