Abstract: Social workers provide social services for the disadvantaged groups, the deviant groups, and the diseased groups on the premise of empathy. However, empathy is a double-edged sword, long-term engagement in which can easily cause empathy fatigue,an unhealthy psychological condition directly related to organizational problems that disturb the development of social work, such as low professional identity, high willingness to leave, and high turnover rate. This article reviews the early researches on empathy fatigue. Through generalizing and evaluating the concept of empathy fatigue, its measurements, influencing factors, and intervention measures, we put forward an operational concept of empathy fatigue for social workers and the direction for future studies. We expect that more researches be done on and more intervention measures be taken to improve social workers,a professional group with high labor intensity,high cognitive skills,and high emotional input,thereby promoting the development of social work.

Key words: empathy fatigue, psychological intervention, social work, burnout, organizational culture