A Literature Review of Compassion Fatigue in Nursing

Abstract

Purpose:In this study the literature of compassion fatigue in nurses was reviewed in order to analyze the trends of overall research for level of fatigue, symptoms, and factors. Methods: For this study, five databases were searched using the key words 'compassion fatigue', 'secondary traumatization', 'secondary traumatic stress', and 'vicarious traumatization'. Thirty-six papers were analyzed. Results: Most of the compassion fatigue research (86%) was conducted between 2006 and 2011 and the most frequent research approach was quantitative research with the ProQOL which was the most frequently used instrument in the studies. He research was conducted in pediatric, emergency & trauma, oncology, psychiatric, and hospice units with no consistent patterns of t compassion fatigue levels. Factors affecting compassion fatigue were personal factors such as age, education background, work-related factors such as caring for trauma patients, work hours, psychological factors such as work stress, burnout, and support/coping factors such as organizational support, and coping resources. Conclusion: Nurses' compassion fatigue varied from low to high by nursing specialties. Many factors affected the compassion fatigue of nurses. In the future there is a need for study on Korean nurses, and identification of groups at risk for compassion fatigue. Furthermore there is a need to develop management programs on compassion fatigue in nurses, stress reduction and wellbeing.

Work-related fatigue and related factors among nurses working at the Adnan Menderes University Hospital

“…Previous study which was carried out on the same scale found that fatigue and energy subscale mean scores were respectively 70.17 (24.66) and 27.5 (9.9) (24). In the present study, according to the univariate analysis results, all of the personal characteristics were associated with fatigue, previous studies reported similar results (25). Most participants are females in this study.…”

Factors Influencing Turnover Intention in Clinical Nurses: Compassion Fatigue, Coping, Social Support, and Job Satisfaction

“…We used a cross-sectional correlational design to construct and verify a model of turnover intention among clinical nurses. The conceptual model was constructed with information from a literature review of studies [2,3,6,11,13]. The literature review revealed that nurses' age and career, workload, and experience of trauma events affected compassion fatigue.…”

“…Coping is expending conscious effort to solve personal and interpersonal problems, and seeking to minimize stress. Thus, coping skills and social support are influential factors regarding compassion fatigue, job satisfaction, and turnover [3,12,13]. Much research has addressed the relationship among job satisfaction, organization commitment and turnover intention in nurses.…”

Effect of Meaningful Recognition on Critical Care Nurses’ Compassion Fatigue

“…18 This 30-item instrument is used to measure the concepts of burnout, secondary trauma, and compassion satisfaction. Compassion fatigue is conceptualized through 2 individualized reliable subscales, Burnout ( = 0.72) and Secondary Trauma ( = 0.80), that cannot be combined.…”