Personal characteristics, coping strategies, and resilience impact on compassion fatigue in critical care nurses: A cross-sectional study

Abstract

Compassion fatigue is known to impact the well-being of nurses and patient safety outcomes. Currently, there is limited academic understanding of the role of demographic factors in contributing to compassion fatigue in critical care nurses. The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between nurse demographic characteristics and the development of compassion fatigue, as indicated by level of burnout and compassion satisfaction in critical care nurses in Saudi Arabia. The cross-sectional study design included administering three surveys to critical care nurses (n = 321) in four Saudi public hospitals to examine the nurse demographic variables in relation to compassion fatigue, the compassion fatigue coping strategies of nurses, and nurse resilience. The results show both demographic and workplace structural elements, such as length of work shift, education level, and nationality, were all significant factors in resilience to compassion fatigue among Saudi critical care nurses, whereas factors of age and sex were not significant. This study concludes that the demographic characteristics of critical care nurses enable the identification of levels of compassion fatigue and compassion satisfaction, and their resilience to the effects of compassion fatigue.