Relationship Between Compassion Fatigue and Health Promotion Behavior Practicing in Long-Term Care

Objective: To examine the relationship between compassion fatigue and health promotion behaviors in nursing personnel practicing in a long term care setting.

Background: In long term care settings, nurses now face the unique challenges and stressors of caring for clients with higher acuity than previous years. Compassion fatigue is recognized as a negative outcome of caring for individuals and is frequently experienced by nursing personnel. Moderate to high levels of compassion fatigue have been identified in acute care settings (ACS) with far less research conducted in long term care centers.

•Compassion fatigue is composed of traumatic events, burnout and job-related stress;

•it co-exists with burnout which affects individuals in caregiving roles (Joinson, 1992).

•Secondary traumatic stress and burnout are other terms relative to compassion fatigue.

•Exhaustion, frustration, anger and depression are common with burnout and secondary traumatic stress is a negative feeling directed by fear and work-related stress (Stamm, 2002). Stamm and Figley (2010) suggest that secondary traumatic stress and burnout together contribute to an increased risk of compassion fatigue. When compassion fatigue manifests, the physical and mental well-being of nurses is compromised (Sheppard, 2014).

Method and Design: A non-experimental, descriptive correlational design using a convenience sample of 61 subjects consisting of registered nurses, licensed practical nurses and certified nursing assistants practicing at Parker at McCarrick in Somerset, New Jersey participated in this study. Subjects completed a demographic data sheet, the Health Promoting Lifestyle Profile II (HPLP-II), and the Professional Quality of Life Scale (ProQOL).

Findings: There was no relationship between compassion fatigue and the total health promotion score as well as any of HPLP II subscales. However, compassion satisfaction revealed a moderate to high relationship to total health promotion (r = .47, p <.001), as well as spiritual growth (r = .45, p<.001), and interpersonal relations (r = .56, p<.001).

Conclusion: Further research needs to be conducted to determine how factors such as consistency of patient care, staff relationships, and work environment influence or prohibit the development of compassion fatigue in long term care settings. Additional research to explore differences in compassion fatigue based on patient care settings is warranted. Programs should be developed and evaluated to measure interventions to sustain or support compassion satisfaction in work settings for nursing personnel practicing in the long term care settings.