Investigation of Compassion Fatigue and Psychological Resilience of Surgical ICU Nurses: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Abstract

Purpose: This study aimed to investigate the levels of compassion fatigue (CF) and psychological resilience (PR) of surgical intensive care unit nurses, to explore their relationship and identify the factors influencing CF.

Design: This study is a cross-sectional descriptive study.

Methods: This study involved 145 nurses working in the surgical intensive care units of a university hospital between November and December 2022. A demographic and work-life-related data sheet, Compassion Fatigue-Short Scale (CF-SS), and Resilience Scale for Adults (RSA) were used to collect the data. Descriptive statistics, Bonferroni post-hoc test, Mann-Whitney U test, Kruskal-Wallis H test, and Spearman's correlation analysis were performed to analyse the data.

Findings: The mean total score for the CF-SS was 58.72 ± 17.69. The mean overall score for the RSA was 116.66 ± 17.76. The total CF-SS score was lower in married participants, those with an associate degree, those who liked their job, and those who were satisfied with their clinic (P < .05), while the total RSA score was higher in married participants and those who were satisfied with their clinic (P < .05). The results showed that there was a low, but significant, negative correlation (r = -0.217; P = .009) between RSA and CF-SS.

Conclusions: This study found that surgical intensive care unit nurses experience moderate levels of CF and PR. Higher PR was associated with lower CF, and job satisfaction and being married positively influenced both CF and PR. Nurses who were satisfied with their clinic and had higher resilience reported less CF. These findings suggest that enhancing resilience and job satisfaction could help reduce CF and improve nurse well-being.