What Makes Oncologists Feel Compassion Fatigue? Qualitative Findings From Korea

Abstract

This study explored oncologists’ compassion fatigue in their practice with cancer patients and families. Qualitative in-depth interviews were conducted. A purposeful sample of nine oncologists was recruited from three hospitals in Korea. We used a hybrid of the theory-driven deductive approach and data-driven inductive approach based on the transactional model of physician compassion. Oncologists shared contexts from which their compassion fatigue stems based on four categories: physician factors, clinical factors, patient and family factors, and environmental and institutional factors. Given the nature of their job, oncologists should receive interventions that improve resilience and reduce compassion fatigue. We suggest interventions that promote appropriate levels of compassion and reduce interfering barriers.

A Bibliometric Analysis of the Association Between Compassion Fatigue and Psychological Resilience From 2008 to 2021

“…Despite a rich literature on CF in service practitioners, however, very limited information is available on effective initiatives to alleviate it ( Cao et al, 2021b ; Khalaila, 2021 ; Salur and Yildirim, 2021 ; White et al, 2021 ; Xie et al, 2021 ; Yeung et al, 2021 ; Yi et al, 2021 ). One potentially promising approach is to strengthen psychological resilience (PR) ( Zhang et al, 2021b ).…”