Disaster Responder Self-Care, Self-Compassion, and Protective Factors
The study examined the relationships among resilience, self-care, self-compassion of first responders. In addition, the study assessed the contributions of protective and risk factors to responders' resilience and disaster response competencies. Five research hypotheses and three research questions were examined with Pearson r correlations, multiple regressions, one t-test, one MANOVA, and post hoc tests, showing significant and meaningful results. In addition, the internal consistency reliabilities of the DRCQ scales were investigated which were strong to very strong. It was hypothesized and shown that there were significant positive relationships among self-care, self-compassion, and resilience. A second hypothesis was retained that the two dimensions of self-care (i.e., self-care practices and physical safety) were predictors of self-compassion. Responders who consciously observed self-care practices fostered and strengthened self-compassion and vice versa.