Compassion fatigue and substance use among nurses

Abstract

AimThis study aimed to detect if there were differences in compassion fatigue (CF) among nurses based on substance use and demographic variables of gender, marital status, type of health institution and income.BackgroundCompassion fatigue is considered an outcome of poorly handled stressful situations in which nurses may respond with self-harming behaviours like substance use. Evidence in this area is critically lacking.MethodsThis study used a descriptive design to survey differences in CF of 282 nurses. The participants completed a demographic survey and indicated whether they consume any of the following substances on a frequent basis: cigarettes, sleeping pills, power drinks, anti-depressant drugs, anti-anxiety drugs, coffee, analgesics, amphetamines and alcohol. Compassion Fatigue scores were surveyed using CF self-test 66 items developed by Stamm and Figely (Compassion satisfaction and fatigue test. http://www.isu.edu/~bhstamm/tests.htm, 1996).ResultsThere were significant differences in CF scores in favour of nurses who used cigarettes, sleeping pills, power drinks, anti-depressants and anti-anxiety drugs. While no significant differences in CF were found between nurses who used coffee, analgesics, amphetamines and alcohol, significant differences in nurses’ CF were found in relation to type of institution, gender and marital status. But nurses’ income did not bring differences to CF scores.ConclusionNurses who might be lacking resilience cope negatively with CF using maladaptive negative behaviours such as substance use.Implications for nursing managementNursing management should be aware of the substance use drive among nurses and build organizational solutions to overcome compassion fatigue and potential substance use problems.

Oncology nurses’ compassion fatigue, burn out and compassion satisfaction

“…The CS, BO and CF scores were surveyed using a validated Arabic version of the 66-item CF instrument (Additional file 1: Appendix S1) [24]. This instrument has been used by many researchers with groups of nurses, and showed a strong alpha value (.87-.9) [25,26].…”

“…The CF score is the sum of 23 items. The compassion satisfaction score is the sum of 26 items, while the BO is the sum of 16 items [24,26]. Permissions to use the instrument (the Arabic translated and the original English version) were officially obtained as appropriate.…”

Nurses' stressors and their quality of life: A study on nurses caring for older patients

“…From previous studies, two factors “workloads” and “patient‐related difficulties” were identified as most common stressors among nurses working with older patients (El‐Hneiti et al, 2019; Zwijsen et al., 2014). Exposure to a long period of these stressors can easily cause many negative effects on the nurses' physical and psychological health, including irritability, anxiety and fatigue (Engström, Ljunggren, Lindqvist, & Carlsson, 2006; Jarrad, Hammad, Shawashi, & Mahmoud, 2018). Physical and psychological functioning is directly related to perception of quality of life.…”

Compassion Fatigue, Secondary Traumatic Stress, and Vicarious Traumatization: a Qualitative Review and Research Agenda

“…"Negative" (i.e., maladaptive) coping mechanisms, such as denial, substance (ab)use, social isolation, or overeating, are frequently included in the literature Jarrad et al 2018;Ting et al 2008) in addition to "positive" (i.e., emotion-focused, problem-focused) coping mechanisms, such as physical activity, mindfulness practice, humor, spirituality, and support seeking (e.g., Thompson et al 2014;Whitebird et al 2013). Notably, different forms of humor have been linked to different stress processes and strain outcomes , and multiple forms of support seeking have been considered, including formal help outside of the work context (e.g., mental health care; Bearse et al 2013).…”