Hi, I’m Stacy Huff, a recent Ph.D. graduate from the University of North Carolina Greensboro, specializing in evaluator well-being. We need to talk about compassion fatigue (CF), the emotional and psychological strain that can result from sustained empathetic engagement with others. While CF is well-documented in caregiving professions, it has largely been overlooked in the evaluation field, where evaluators regularly engage with trauma-exposed communities and navigate systemic inequities, often with no preparation or support.
My dissertation research, conducted through interviews with evaluators, revealed that evaluators are experiencing CF, often in isolation. Many evaluators don’t know about CF, the risk factors, preventative practices, or where to go for help.
Lessons Learned
- Evaluators working with trauma-exposed populations are at greater risk for CF. While CF may seem niche within evaluation, it is a critical issue for evaluators working directly with trauma-exposed communities. Evaluators conducting evaluation with conflict refugees, Indigenous populations, and communities facing systemic oppression are not only exposed to distressing narratives but also experience the ethical strain of working within these systems. Without recognition and support, this exposure increases the risk of burnout and emotional exhaustion.
- Evaluator identity plays a major role in CF experiences. CF does not affect all evaluators equally. Women, evaluators of color, and those from historically marginalized backgrounds often face additional emotional burdens in evaluation work. Many evaluators select the programs they serve based on shared identity, which leads to hearing stories of trauma that they themselves have also lived through. This underscores the need for intentional conversations and field-wide support to address how identity impacts CF risk.
- Organizational support is failing evaluators. CF is not an individual weakness; it is a predictable outcome in a field that has not yet built the structures to prevent it. Evaluators are often left to manage the emotional weight of their work alone, with no formalized structures for support. Feedback and workplace culture play a major role here: when evaluators receive constructive, affirming feedback, it can promote resilience. However, many evaluators experience a complete lack of feedback, leaving them more vulnerable to CF.
- Existing frameworks need to be expanded. One of the few existing frameworks that touches on evaluator well-being is the Trauma-Informed Evaluation and Research (TIER) framework, which guides trauma-informed evaluation practices. However, even TIER is largely focused on participant well-being. As evaluation moves toward participatory and trauma-informed approaches, we must also ask: How are we protecting the evaluators themselves? Just as we advocate for ethical, participant-centered evaluation, we must also demand institutional accountability for evaluator well-being. You can check out the TIER framework here.
Rad Resources
Evaluators don’t have to navigate CF alone.
- The Compassion Fatigue Awareness Project provides essential resources for understanding, preventing, and addressing CF in professional settings. While evaluation is just now recognizing this issue, we can learn from the work already happening in other fields.
For those seeking practical tools, here are additional resources:
- Guided Meditation for Compassion Fatigue is a short meditation designed to help practitioners manage emotional fatigue.
- Reducing Compassion Fatigue, Secondary Traumatic Stress, and Burnout: A Trauma-Sensitive Workbook is a structured guide for addressing CF in professional settings.
Call to Action: What’s Next?
The AEA Evaluator Competencies guide our field’s practices, so why is evaluator well-being missing from the conversation? It’s time to consider evaluator resilience as an essential part of professional sustainability in evaluation. How can we create stronger support networks and advocate for change?
Have you encountered CF in evaluation? What strategies have worked for you? Let’s build the conversation—and the support structures evaluators need.
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