Relationship between empathy ability and compassion satisfaction among medical oncology nurses: Mediating effect of resilience and the moderating effect of social support

Abstract

Objective To understand the level of compassion satisfaction of medical oncology nurses and to explore the mediating effect of resilience in the relationship between empathy ability and compassion satisfaction of medical oncology nurses, and to investigate the moderating effect of social support in this mediating role. Methods A total of 291 medical oncology nurses from 7 general hospitals in Dalian were measured with self-made general questionnaire, professional quality of life scale, Chinese version of Jefferson empathy scale, perceived social support scale and Ego-Resiliency Scale. Results The scores of compassion satisfaction of medical oncology nurses was (34.79±5.87).Pearson correlation analysis showed that there was a significant positive correlation between empathy, resilience, social support and compassion satisfaction (r=0.222-0.402, P<0.01). Resilience partially mediated the relationship between empathy ability and compassion satisfaction, the value of mediating effect was 23.1% of the total effect. The effect of resilience and compassion satisfaction among medical oncology nurses was also moderated by social support, that is, social support regulates the latter half of the process of empathy, resilience and compassion satisfaction. The higher the level of social support, the stronger the mediating effect of empathy through resilience on compassion satisfaction. Conclusions The level of compassion satisfaction of medical oncology nurses in Dalian is low and needs to be improved. The are close relationships among empathy ability, resilience, social support and compassion satisfaction. It is a moderated mediating effect model. It is suggested that managers should pay attention to the role of psychological resilience and provide high-level social support to improve the level of compassion satisfaction of medical oncology nurses. Key words: Empathy; Resilience, psychological; Social support; Compassion satisfaction; Moderating effect