Compassion satisfaction and compassion fatigue in oncology nursing staff: descriptive and correlational study

Abstract

Objectives: (1) To determine the perception of Compassion Satisfaction and Fatigue of oncology nursing staff; (2) to study the correlation between Compassion Satisfaction and Fatigue and sociodemographic, professional and adaptive variables (resilience, attitudes toward death, personality); and (3) to identify predictors of the two dimensions. Method: Descriptive, correlational, cross-sectional study. 69 nurses (62.7%) and 41 auxiliary care technicians (37.3%) from the Oncology Services in Biscay (Basque Health Service) completed the ProQOL-V, CD-RISC-10, DAP-R, and NEO-FFI-3. Data were collected between September 2018 and March 2019. The statistical analysis with SPSS.22 included chi-square tests, comparison of means, Pearson´s correlation, and multivariate logistic regression. Results: 66.4% (n=73) showed high Compassion Satisfaction, and 41.8% (n=46) were at moderate levels of Compassion Fatigue. People with prior studies related to death and/or grief were more satisfied. Compassion Satisfaction had stronger correlations with resilience and extroversion, and Compassion Fatigue did so with neuroticism and resilience. Four predictor variables emerged for Compassion Satisfaction: age, prior learning, resilience, and agreeableness; and four for Compassion Fatigue: attitudes of avoidance and escape concerning death, neuroticism, and openness. Conclusions: The high relationship found between training and resilience with Compassion Satisfaction can serve as a guide for academic and health care institutions to orient training, preventive and interventional strategies to provide oncology nursing teams with resources that allow them to optimize their care role.