Prevalence and predictors of compassion satisfaction, secondary traumatic stress, and burnout among Chinese hospice nurses: A cross-sectional study.

Aim: To explore the prevalence and predictors of compassion satisfaction, secondary traumatic stress, and burnout among Chinese hospice nurses.

Background: Because of prolonged and continual contact with suffering, deaths, and grief, hospice nurses may be vulnerable to emotional burdens and have difficulty maintaining their professional quality of life.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted. A total of 478 hospice nurses were selected from 24 medical institutions in Sichuan province. Demographic, work-related information and work-related trauma questionnaire, the Chinese version of the Interpersonal Reactivity Index, the Chinese version of the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire, and the Chinese version of the Professional Quality of Life Scale for Nurses were used for collecting data.

Results: The mean scores of compassion satisfaction, secondary traumatic stress, and burnout were 34.89 ± 6.21, 26.35 ± 5.24, and 24.49 ± 5.01, respectively. Job satisfaction, perspective-taking, empathic concern, working in tertiary hospitals, and adopting cognitive reappraisal strategy were positively associated with compassion satisfaction, while personal distress was a negative factor, all variables explaining 50.7 % of the variance. Higher burnout was found among nurse who had higher personal distress, worked in secondary or primary hospitals, worked >8 h per day and caring for >10 dying patients last month. In addition, job satisfaction, social support, perspective-taking, empathic concern, and cognitive reappraisal were identified as significant protectors, explaining 50.1 % of the variance. We also found that lower job satisfaction, higher personal distress, higher expressive suppression, lack of social support, senior nurses, and cared for >10 dying patients last month, were positively related to secondary traumatic stress. However, cognitive reappraisal had negative associations. These seven factors explained 32.0 % of the variance.

Conclusions: Hospice care has specific characteristics and hospice nurses may suffer from more work-related stressors compared with other nurses. Our study may provide clues to help nursing administrators identify hospice nurses who are at higher risk of compassion fatigue and design targeted interventions focused on potential risk factors and protectors to improve hospice nurses' compassion satisfaction, while reducing compassion fatigue.