Abstract
Nurses working at nursing homes are one of the most vulnerable populations for suffering burnout and compassion fatigue. In Spain, the concept of compassion fatigue and psychological flexibility related to stress in geriatric nurses has not been fully explored until now. It is important to analyze their situation in order to design robust coping and management strategies. The aim was to analyze the relationship between burnout, compassion fatigue and psychological flexibility in geriatric nurses in Spain. Participants included 291 nurses from 97 centers in 51 cities across Spain. Psychological flexibility (AAQ-II), burnout (MBI) and compassion fatigue (ProQOL) were evaluated. Responses were recievced from 281 nurses (91% women), with an average of 7.6 years of work experience. The MBI results were average (26.71), and the ProQOL scores were average for compassion fatigue (40.2%) and high for compassion satisfaction (70.3%), whereas for AAQ-II, the mean score was 37.34 (SD 4.21). The correlation was significant and negative for flexibility, burnout and compassion fatigue, and positive for compassion satisfaction. The ANOVA indicated a significant association between all variables (p < 0.05). We can conclude that geriatric nurses suffer from medium levels of burnout and compassion fatigue, together with high levels of psychological flexibility, which appears to act as a stress reliever, supporting compassion satisfaction.
Highlights
As early as 1970, Louis Davis underlined the need for organizations to be concerned about the welfare and health of all employees, to support optimal performance of duties [1]
The aim of this study was to analyze the relationship between burnout, compassion fatigue and psychological flexibility in geriatric nurses who work in nursing homes, via a multicenter study in Spain
This study has shown that high levels of burnout are positively correlated with presenting compassion fatigue and inversely correlated with psychological flexibility and compassion satisfaction
Summary
As early as 1970, Louis Davis underlined the need for organizations to be concerned about the welfare and health of all employees, to support optimal performance of duties [1]. In the field of healthcare, the intricacy of care work (work shifts, relationships with patients and relatives, direct contact with illness, pain and death, lack of professional recognition) means that healthcare professionals suffer from chronic stress, which leads to a high incidence of burnout, as shown in literature reviews, such as a report by Dreison et al, [3] analyzing findings over the last 35 years, or a study by Hall which analyzed fortysix studies [4]. Health professionals specializing in this field are under great pressure They must establish links with families to gain their support and trust, and have to deal with elderly people with emotional and behavioral disorders.
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