2026 IJRSE – Volume 15 Issue 16
Available Online: 24 June 2026
Author/s:
Tayoto, Rosemarie*
De La Salle University, Philippines (rosemarie.aquino@dlsu.edu.ph)
Aranda, Elaine Marie
De La Salle University, Philippines (elaine.aranda@dlsu.edu.ph)
Abstract:
Mental health practitioners work daily alongside people carrying some of the heaviest emotional burdens imaginable, and that sustained proximity to suffering takes a measurable toll. Burnout (BO) and secondary traumatic stress (STS) are well-documented risks in this field, yet we still know relatively little about what actually keeps practitioners well over the long haul. Reflective practice, the habit of turning a thoughtful, honest eye on one’s own professional experiences, emotional reactions, and assumptions, has long been proposed as one protective factor. Empirical evidence on this question among licensed mental health practitioners in the Philippines, however, is limited. This study explored compassion satisfaction (CS), burnout, and secondary traumatic stress in a sample of 63 Filipino mental health practitioners using the Professional Quality of Life Scale (ProQOL-5) and examined whether years of practice, as a marker of sustained reflective engagement, were linked to differences in these outcomes using nonparametric analyses. The study used a descriptive cross-sectional design. Participants (N = 63) were licensed mental health practitioners holding at least one Philippine professional credential (RGC, RPsy, RPm, and/or LPT). CS, BO, and STS were measured using the ProQOL-5 (Stamm, 2010). Given the ordinal nature of the subscale data and the non-normal distribution of scores, the analyses relied on non-parametric procedures: Kruskal-Wallis H tests, Mann-Whitney U tests, and Spearman rank-order correlations. Most practitioners scored in the average to high range on CS (M = 41.67, SD = 4.69) and in the low range on both BO (Mdn = 20.00) and STS (Mdn = 21.00). Kruskal-Wallis tests showed significant differences in CS (H = 13.43, p = .009) and BO (H = 11.43, p = .022) across years-of-practice groups. Those with 15 or more years in practice had the highest CS (Mdn = 44.00) and lowest BO (Mdn = 18.00). Gender did not differentiate outcomes. CS and BO were strongly and inversely correlated (rs = −.876, p < .001), and CS and STS showed a moderate inverse relationship (rs = −.545, p < .001). Among Filipino mental health practitioners, longer professional experience taken here as a marker of accumulated reflective engagement is meaningfully linked to higher compassion satisfaction and lower burnout. The findings make a practical case for deliberately and sustainably integrating reflective practice into continuing professional development, for the benefit of both practitioners and the clients they serve.
Keywords: reflective practice, burnout, secondary traumatic stress, compassion satisfaction, ProQOL-5, mental health practitioners, Philippines, non-parametric analysis
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5861/ijrse.2026.26868
Cite this article:
Tayoto, R., & Aranda, E. M. (2026). The role of reflective practice as a protective factor against burnout and secondary traumatic stress in mental health practitioners: Evidence from the Professional Quality of Life Scale. International Journal of Research Studies in Education, 15(16), 91-102. https://doi.org/10.5861/ijrse.2026.26868
* Corresponding Author