{"id":{"repo_id":"massey","oai_identifier":"oai:mro.massey.ac.nz:10179/73230"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/massey/oai:mro.massey.ac.nz:10179/73230","repository":{"repo_id":"massey","name":"Massey University","base_url":"https://mro.massey.ac.nz/server/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"How can we Improve self-care practices and reduce burnout within New Zealand and Australian psychologists? : examining self-compassion and its link to self-care and burnout : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Psychology at Massey University, Auckland, New Zealand","abstract":"The demanding nature of psychologists’ work and their exposure to distressing content, puts them at high risk of experiencing stress outcomes. Self-care is widely accepted as important for preventing stress outcomes such as burnout; however, surprisingly few studies have investigated the link between self-care and burnout among psychologists. Further, despite ethical imperatives to engage in self-care, psychologists tend to have a chronic disregard for their own needs and limited research has investigated factors that increase psychologists' engagement in self-care. One promising factor that may enhance self-care and buffer burnout is self-compassion. Prior research within other helping professionals has linked self-compassion with promoting self-care and reducing burnout. However, almost no research has investigated the benefit of self-compassion for psychologists or considered the relationships between these three factors. This research explored self-compassion’s relationship with self-care and burnout in psychologists, as well as whether self-compassion was a moderator of the relationship between self-care and burnout. Currently registered and practicing New Zealand and Australian psychologists (n = 197) were recruited through convenience sampling. Hierarchical regression analyses indicated that self-compassion had a significant, positive relationship with both professional and personal self-care in psychologist and that both self-compassion and self-care had significant, negative associations with burnout. Psychologists with greater self-compassion tended to have higher engagement in both professional and personal self-care along with lower levels of burnout. Moderation analysis showed that self-compassion was also a significant moderator of relationship between self-care and burnout, such that self-compassion strengthened the negative relationship that self-care had with burnout in psychologists. Specifically, as psychologists’ level of self-compassion gets higher, the negative relationship between self-care and burnout gets stronger. These results highlight self-compassion as a valuable resource for enhancing self-care practices and buffering burnout within psychologists. This research extends the finding that self-compassion is positively associated with self-care to a population of New Zealand and Australian psychologists, and it provides an initial foundation for new ways of looking at the relationship between self-care and burnout with respect to self-compassion.","abstract_html":"The demanding nature of psychologists’ work and their exposure to distressing content, puts them at high risk of experiencing stress outcomes. Self-care is widely accepted as important for preventing stress outcomes such as burnout; however, surprisingly few studies have investigated the link between self-care and burnout among psychologists. Further, despite ethical imperatives to engage in self-care, psychologists tend to have a chronic disregard for their own needs and limited research has investigated factors that increase psychologists' engagement in self-care. One promising factor that may enhance self-care and buffer burnout is self-compassion. Prior research within other helping professionals has linked self-compassion with promoting self-care and reducing burnout. However, almost no research has investigated the benefit of self-compassion for psychologists or considered the relationships between these three factors. This research explored self-compassion’s relationship with self-care and burnout in psychologists, as well as whether self-compassion was a moderator of the relationship between self-care and burnout. Currently registered and practicing New Zealand and Australian psychologists (n = 197) were recruited through convenience sampling. Hierarchical regression analyses indicated that self-compassion had a significant, positive relationship with both professional and personal self-care in psychologist and that both self-compassion and self-care had significant, negative associations with burnout. Psychologists with greater self-compassion tended to have higher engagement in both professional and personal self-care along with lower levels of burnout. Moderation analysis showed that self-compassion was also a significant moderator of relationship between self-care and burnout, such that self-compassion strengthened the negative relationship that self-care had with burnout in psychologists. Specifically, as psychologists’ level of self-compassion gets higher, the negative relationship between self-care and burnout gets stronger. These results highlight self-compassion as a valuable resource for enhancing self-care practices and buffering burnout within psychologists. This research extends the finding that self-compassion is positively associated with self-care to a population of New Zealand and Australian psychologists, and it provides an initial foundation for new ways of looking at the relationship between self-care and burnout with respect to self-compassion.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Matheson, Siobhan"],"institution":null,"degree_name":null,"degree_level":null,"degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2025,"date_issued":"2025","date_published":"2025","updated_at":"2026-07-27T20:18:16Z","subjects":[],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["hdl:10179/73230"],"render_values":[{"text":"hdl:10179/73230","href":null,"code":true}]}]},"links":{"outbound_url":null,"outbound_label":null,"outbound_source":null},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.issued","label":"Date","values":["2025"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Thesis"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["hdl:10179/73230"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.other","label":"Dc Description Other","values":["The demanding nature of psychologists’ work and their exposure to distressing content, puts them at high risk of experiencing stress outcomes. Self-care is widely accepted as important for preventing stress outcomes such as burnout; however, surprisingly few studies have investigated the link between self-care and burnout among psychologists. Further, despite ethical imperatives to engage in self-care, psychologists tend to have a chronic disregard for their own needs and limited research has investigated factors that increase psychologists' engagement in self-care. One promising factor that may enhance self-care and buffer burnout is self-compassion. Prior research within other helping professionals has linked self-compassion with promoting self-care and reducing burnout. However, almost no research has investigated the benefit of self-compassion for psychologists or considered the relationships between these three factors. This research explored self-compassion’s relationship with self-care and burnout in psychologists, as well as whether self-compassion was a moderator of the relationship between self-care and burnout. Currently registered and practicing New Zealand and Australian psychologists (n = 197) were recruited through convenience sampling. Hierarchical regression analyses indicated that self-compassion had a significant, positive relationship with both professional and personal self-care in psychologist and that both self-compassion and self-care had significant, negative associations with burnout. Psychologists with greater self-compassion tended to have higher engagement in both professional and personal self-care along with lower levels of burnout. Moderation analysis showed that self-compassion was also a significant moderator of relationship between self-care and burnout, such that self-compassion strengthened the negative relationship that self-care had with burnout in psychologists. Specifically, as psychologists’ level of self-compassion gets higher, the negative relationship between self-care and burnout gets stronger. These results highlight self-compassion as a valuable resource for enhancing self-care practices and buffering burnout within psychologists. This research extends the finding that self-compassion is positively associated with self-care to a population of New Zealand and Australian psychologists, and it provides an initial foundation for new ways of looking at the relationship between self-care and burnout with respect to self-compassion."]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["How can we Improve self-care practices and reduce burnout within New Zealand and Australian psychologists? : examining self-compassion and its link to self-care and burnout : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Psychology at Massey University, Auckland, New Zealand"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:date.issued":["2025"],"dc:description.other":["The demanding nature of psychologists’ work and their exposure to distressing content, puts them at high risk of experiencing stress outcomes. Self-care is widely accepted as important for preventing stress outcomes such as burnout; however, surprisingly few studies have investigated the link between self-care and burnout among psychologists. Further, despite ethical imperatives to engage in self-care, psychologists tend to have a chronic disregard for their own needs and limited research has investigated factors that increase psychologists' engagement in self-care. One promising factor that may enhance self-care and buffer burnout is self-compassion. Prior research within other helping professionals has linked self-compassion with promoting self-care and reducing burnout. However, almost no research has investigated the benefit of self-compassion for psychologists or considered the relationships between these three factors. This research explored self-compassion’s relationship with self-care and burnout in psychologists, as well as whether self-compassion was a moderator of the relationship between self-care and burnout. Currently registered and practicing New Zealand and Australian psychologists (n = 197) were recruited through convenience sampling. Hierarchical regression analyses indicated that self-compassion had a significant, positive relationship with both professional and personal self-care in psychologist and that both self-compassion and self-care had significant, negative associations with burnout. Psychologists with greater self-compassion tended to have higher engagement in both professional and personal self-care along with lower levels of burnout. Moderation analysis showed that self-compassion was also a significant moderator of relationship between self-care and burnout, such that self-compassion strengthened the negative relationship that self-care had with burnout in psychologists. Specifically, as psychologists’ level of self-compassion gets higher, the negative relationship between self-care and burnout gets stronger. These results highlight self-compassion as a valuable resource for enhancing self-care practices and buffering burnout within psychologists. This research extends the finding that self-compassion is positively associated with self-care to a population of New Zealand and Australian psychologists, and it provides an initial foundation for new ways of looking at the relationship between self-care and burnout with respect to self-compassion."],"dc:identifier":["hdl:10179/73230"],"dc:title":["How can we Improve self-care practices and reduce burnout within New Zealand and Australian psychologists? : examining self-compassion and its link to self-care and burnout : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Psychology at Massey University, Auckland, New Zealand"],"dc:type":["Thesis"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-27T20:18:16Z"}