Abstract
Human service employees working in short-term foster care experience a work role that is both challenging and demanding. The nature of this work can lead to high levels of burnout and secondary traumatic stress. Using the job demands-resources model, this study examined the role of psychological resilience, emotional intelligence, and compassion satisfaction as personal resources that can foster work engagement and mitigate the effects of burnout and secondary traumatic stress. Using both employees working in short-term foster care and a student sample, results showed the importance of personal resources as a mediator between job resources and work engagement. Thus, employees who are able to utilize their personal resources of psychological resilience, emotional intelligence, and compassion satisfaction are able to mobilize their job resources which can lead to high engagement at work.