Exploring the professional quality of life of South African audiologists

Abstract

BACKGROUND: South African audiologists face clinical and systemic challenges because of resource constraints and workload pressures, yet their professional quality of life and the role of resilience remain underexplored. OBJECTIVES: To explore the professional quality of life of South African audiologists and to examine its association with resilience and coping. METHOD: A two-phase explanatory sequential mixed-methods design was employed. Phase 1 involved a cross-sectional web-based survey, incorporating the Professional Quality of Life Scale (v5), while phase 2 comprised semi-structured interviews. Quantitative data were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics, and qualitative data were analysed using Braun and Clarke's reflexive thematic analysis. RESULTS: Audiologists reported moderate compassion satisfaction (CS) and low burnout and secondary traumatic stress (STS). Burnout (BO) was negatively correlated with CS, while compassion fatigue (CF) was positively correlated with both BO and STS. A negative association was observed between STS and CS. Higher resilience was associated with better professional quality of life and qualitative findings highlighted emotional regulation, adaptability and support as key to sustaining professional fulfilment. CONCLUSION: Organisational support plays an important role in promoting audiologists' well-being and professional engagement. Strengthening support structures and resilience practices may improve professional quality of life. There is also a need to enhance training through supervision, mentorship and the integration of resilience and coping skills into audiology curricula.Contribution: These findings can inform strategies to improve audiologists' well-being and guide institutional and policy responses.