Factors Influencing Compassion Fatigue among Hospice and Palliative Care Unit Nurses

Abstract

Purpose: This descriptive study aimed to explore nursing workplace spirituality, end-oflife care stress, and resilience as factors influencing compassion fatigue among nurses working in hospice and palliative care units. Methods: Data were collected using a self-report questionnaire completed by 146 nurses at 14 hospice and palliative care institutions across South Korea who had worked in a hospice and palliative care institution for at least 6 months and had experience providing end-of-life care. Data were collected from February 25, 2019 to April 12, 2019, and analyzed using SPSS for Windows version 18.0. As appropriate, descriptive statistics, the t-test, analysis of variance, the Scheffé test, Pearson correlation coefficients, and stepwise multiple regression were used. Results: The survey results showed that factors influencing compassion fatigue were resilience, subjective health status, current satisfaction with the hospice ward, and end-of-life care stress. Higher levels of resilience, a subjective health status of "healthy", high levels of current satisfaction with the hospice ward, and lower levels of end-of-life care stress were associated with lower levels of compassion fatigue, explaining 42.9% of the total variance. Conclusion: The results of this study suggest that resilience is an important factor mitigating compassion fatigue among nurses at hospice and palliative care institutions. Therefore, intervention programs should be developed to reduce compassion fatigue.

The effect of thanatophobia and professional commitment on compassion fatigue in nurses in Türkiye: Cross sectional study

“…In this study, the mean CF-SS score was found to be 64.63±30.89 and it can be said that nurses had a moderate level of CF. Similar to this study, CF was found to be at low or moderate levels in previous studies conducted in Türkiye [23,24].…”

A structural equation modeling analysis of the effects of nurses' spirituality and spiritual care on professional quality of life

“…T A B L E 3 Results of structural equation modeling analysis. (Cho & Cho, 2021). On the contrary, in another study conducted on nurses, it was reported that spiritual care is a draining experience;…”

“…There are conflicting results on this point in the literature. A study conducted with hospice and palliative care nurses concluded that there is negative relationship between SSCR and compassion (Cho & Cho, 2021). On the contrary, in another study conducted on nurses, it was reported that spiritual care is a draining experience; questioning the purpose, thoughts of death, or seeking spiritual answers cause compassion fatigue (Ondrejková & Halamová, 2022).…”

“…On the contrary, in another study conducted on nurses, it was reported that spiritual care is a draining experience; questioning the purpose, thoughts of death, or seeking spiritual answers cause compassion fatigue (Ondrejková & Halamová, 2022). It has been stated in the literature that SSCR is negatively effective on compassion fatigue, especially in studies conducted with neonatal, cancer, or palliative care nurses (Cho & Cho, 2021; Ostadhashemi et al, 2019; Richardson & Greenle, 2020). However, nurses working in different fields such as intensive care, emergency service, internal medicine, and surgical service were included in this study.…”

Integrative Wellness Approaches to Mitigate Perceived Stress, Increase Vitality, and Build Community during COVID-19: A Pilot Study

“…The vital practitioner is defined as a caregiving professional who engages in systematic self-care activities designed to increase subjective vitality (e.g., time management, forest bathing) thereby mitigating perceived stress by increasing subjective vitality. Perceived stress and subjective vitality are important to address as they contribute to occupational longevity, job performance, psychosocial conditions, and physical manifestations that impact nurse connection with patients [ 1 , 2 ]. Thus far, the I4VP has utilized online workshops, art therapy, narrative writing, discussions, and professional quality of life to accomplish its mission.…”