Compassionate Care pada Mahasiswa Relawan Disabilitas: Studi Kasus di Unit Layanan Difabel dan Konseling Mahasiswa Universitas Muhammadiyah Purworejo

Arif Budi Setyawan (Program Studi Psikologi, Fakultas Psikologi Hukum dan Ilmu Sosial, Universitas Muhammadiyah Purworejo)
Wanodya Kusumastuti (Program Studi Psikologi, Fakultas Psikologi Hukum dan Ilmu Sosial, Universitas Muhammadiyah Purworejo)
Budi Setiawan (Program Studi Psikologi, Fakultas Psikologi Hukum dan Ilmu Sosial, Universitas Muhammadiyah Purworejo)

Jurnal Ilmu Psikologi dan Kesehatan
Vol. 3 No. 2 (2026): Juli - September

Compassionate care is a service approach emphasizing awareness of others' suffering, empathic concern, relational presence, and tangible actions to alleviate that burden. While this concept has been widely studied among professionals such as nurses and counselors, the experiences of student volunteers acting as non-professional companions remain underexplored. This study aims to understand compassionate care practices based on the lived experiences of student volunteers supporting individuals with disabilities at the Disability Service and Student Counseling Unit (ULDKM) of Universitas Muhammadiyah Purworejo. A qualitative single-case study design was employed, involving five student volunteers as primary informants and five "significant others," selected via purposive sampling. Data were collected through in-depth interviews, observations, and reflective documents; analyzed using the Miles and Huberman interactive model; and verified through source triangulation. The results indicate that compassionate care does not emerge spontaneously but is shaped by the interaction of internal factors (psychology academic background, intrinsic concern, altruistic-religious beliefs) and external factors (the family-like atmosphere of ULDKM, early formative experiences such as orientation programs, and peer volunteer support). Compassionate care practices manifest through establishing a sense of safety, gradually developing empathic sensitivity, maintaining emotional presence balanced with role boundaries, and taking contextually responsive actions. The study also reveals psychological challenges—such as role conflict, emotional exhaustion, and ambivalence—counterbalanced by resilience rooted in intrinsic motivation. A distinctive finding is the pattern of bilateral growth, wherein volunteers not only give but also receive personal growth in the form of empathy, self-acceptance, and gratitude. This research enriches Sinclair et al.’s (2016) compassionate care model by incorporating dimensions of emotional reciprocity and aspects specific to the collectivist and religious socio-cultural context of Indonesia.