Compassion fatigue among frontline healthcare workers during the covid-19 pandemic in Tunisia

Healthcare workers (HCWs) are highly vulnerable to compassion fatigue (CF), which not only leads to decreased mental and physical health, but also to deterioration in the safety of care delivered. Our study aims to measure compassion satisfaction (CS), CF levels and their predictors among Tunisian HCWs.

We conducted a cross-sectional study among HCWs caring for confirmed and suspected Covid-19 patients, staff at two university hospitals in Sousse, Tunisia during the 4thwave of coronavirus through a self-administrated Questionnaire, using the French version of the Professional Quality of Life scale ProQol, version 5.

A total of 274 professionals were recruited with a mean age of 32.87±8.35 years. HCWs tend to have an overall moderate levels of compassion satisfaction, secondary traumatic stress and burnout with mean scores 35.09±7.08, 29.72±7.62, 28.54±5.44 respectively. Self-reported resilience (β = 0.14, p = 10-3), work engagement (β = 0.39, p = 10-3) and burnout (β = -0.32, p = 10-3) were the predictors of compassion satisfaction in the linear regression analysis (adjusted r2 = 0.45). Similarly, limited work experience, compassion satisfaction and secondary traumatic sub-scores were the determinants of burnout (β = -0.1, p = 0.04; β = -0.54, p = 10-3; β = 0.35, p = 10-3 respectively); (adjusted r2 = 0.48). Regarding STS, female professionals (β = 0.20, p = 10-3), being married (β = 0.19, p = 10-3), the fear of transmitting the infection (β = 0.11, p = 0.03) and burnout (β = 0.39, p = 10-3) were the predictors for the occurrence of secondary traumatic stress (adjusted r2 = 0.48).

More resilience promoting interventions and more coping skills programs must be implemented to fulfill HCWs' psychological well-being needs.