Compassion fatigue and associated factors among nurses working in Jimma Zone public hospitals, southwest Ethiopia: A facility based cross-sectional study.

Background: Nurses are at risk of developing compassion fatigue, which has negative impacts on their well-being, quality care and leads to patient mortality and a financial burden on the healthcare system. However, data on compassion fatigue is scarce in Africa, particularly Ethiopia. Therefore, this study aimed to assess level compassion fatigue and associated factors among nurses in Jimma Zone public hospitals, Ethiopia.

Method: A facility-based cross-sectional study was employed from May 25 to June 25, 2023. A systematic sampling technique was employed to select among 422 respondents. Data were collected using pretested self-administered questionnaires. Professional Quality of Life Scale-5 was used for measuring compassion fatigues. Data were entered using Epi data version 4.6 and analyzed using SPSS version 25. Linear regression were done to identify factors associated with compassion fatigue. Statistically significant was declared at a p-value of ≤ 0.05 with 95% CI.

Result: From a total of 422 respondents, 412(97.6%) of them gave complete responses. 47% of respondents, had a moderate level of compassion fatigue. Total experience [β = -0.04; 95%CI (-0.06, -0.01); p = 0.005], perceived social support [β = -0.13; 95% CI (-0.17, -0.08); p<0.001], self-compassion [β = -0.09; 95% CI (-0.14, -0.03); p = 0.003], support seeking [β = -0.23; 95% CI (-0.42, -0.04 p = 0.017], emergency ward [β = 0.36; 95% CI (0.2, 0.51); p <0.001], ICU [β = 0.38; 95% CI (0.21, 0.54); p<0.001], pediatric ward [β = 0.23; 95% CI (0.10, 0.36); p < 0.001] and average sleep hours per day [β = 0.46; 95% CI (0.35, 0.57); p<0.001] were statistically signifantly factors.

Conclusion And Recommendation: The study revealed that one in four nurses had high level of compassion fatigue. The factors associated were work experience, perceived social support, self-compassion, coping strategies, work unit, and sleep hours. Therefore, stakeholders including hospital managers should implement targeted strategies to prevent compassion fatigue including training on coping strategy and, self-compassion and creating culture of team work among nurses.