Date
7-22-2025
Department
School of Behavioral Sciences
Degree
Doctor of Philosophy in Counselor Education and Supervision (PhD)
Chair
Kristy Ford
Keywords
crisis, counselor preparation, self-efficacy, compassion satisfaction, burnout, secondary traumatic stress, well-being, job satisfaction
Disciplines
Counseling | Education
Recommended Citation
Pierce, Courtney, "Crisis Preparedness and Professional Quality of Life: Exploring the Influence of Self-Efficacy, Mental Well-Being and Job Satisfaction in Crisis Counselors" (2025). Doctoral Dissertations and Projects. 7199.
https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/doctoral/7199
Abstract
Crisis services are a growing division of mental health programs. While recent CACREP updates in 2009 and 2016 have placed an emphasis on crisis preparation in counselor education programs, many counselors are not adequately prepared for work in crisis settings. Inadequate preparation could heighten counselors’ risk for burnout and secondary traumatic stress, posing a threat not only to their well-being, but also to the advancement of crisis programs. It is important to investigate protective factors for crisis counselors to support their well-being and the viability of essential crisis services. Existing literature examines individual and organizational factors that predict and protect against burnout and secondary traumatic stress, and this study incorporates crisis preparedness, self-efficacy, job satisfaction, and mental well-being into the investigation. Pearson correlations were used to assess associations between the study constructs and Hayes’s Process Model 17 was used to investigate the extent to which self-efficacy functions as a mediator between crisis preparedness and professional quality of life variables (compassion satisfaction, burnout, secondary traumatic stress). Hayes’s Process Model 17 was also used to explore the extent that mental well-being and job satisfaction function as moderators in the relationship between crisis self-efficacy and professional quality of life variables (compassion satisfaction, burnout, secondary traumatic stress) and crisis preparedness and professional quality of life variables. These findings contribute to the literature on crisis counseling and highlight important protective factors for sustaining crisis counselors in the field.
