Compassionate Capacity as a Salutogenic Resource: Psychological Mechanisms, Resilience, and Well-Being in Healthcare Systems

Compassion and self-compassion are increasingly recognized not only as trainable competencies but as psychological resources that actively promote health, well-being, and resilience within healthcare systems. Building on the salutogenic model, this Research Topic explores compassionate capacity as a protective and generative mechanism, one that sustains healthcare professionals’ well-being and enhances the quality and humanity of patient care, rather than solely serving as an antidote to burnout.While training programes and their implementation have been widely studied, less attention has been paid to compassionate capacity as an underlying psychological resource: how it develops, what sustains it, and how it interacts with other salutogenic factors (sense of coherence, meaning-making, social support) to protect and promote health in high-demand clinical and educational settings.This collection specifically excludes general efficacy studies of standardized compassion-training programes (e.g. CCT, MSC, CFT), which are addressed elsewhere; contributions here should foreground the salutogenic, resource-based, and resilience-oriented dimensions of compassionate capacity.This collection specifically excludes general efficacy studies of standardized compassion-training programes (e.g. CCT, MSC, CFT); these are addressed in our companion Research Topic, "Compassion Fatigue in the Health and Social Sector, Volume II", with which this Research Topic runs concurrently. Contributions here should foreground the salutogenic, resource-based, and resilience-oriented dimensions of compassionate capacity.We welcome Original Research, Reviews, Perspectives, and Brief Research Reports addressing, but not limited to:- Compassionate capacity as a salutogenic resource: theoretical models and frameworksInteractions between sense of coherence, meaning-making, and compassionate capacity- Protective and generative (rather than purely preventive) effects of compassion on healthcare professionals’ well-being- Assessment and measurement of compassionate capacity as a psychological resource- Organizational and systemic factors that cultivate compassionate capacity within health systems- The relationship between compassionate capacity and resilience, post-traumatic growth, and thriving (not just burnout prevention)- Cross-cultural and contextual variations in compassionate capacity as a health resource- Novel or emerging conceptualizations of compassion beyond standardized training frameworks Topic editors: María Dolores Ruiz Fernández, Ángela Ortega Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/83508/compassionate-capacity-as-a-salutogenic-resource-psychological-mechanisms-resilience-and-well-being-in-healthcare-systems