Moral sensitivity, spiritual care perception, and compassion fatigue of nurses caring for earthquake victims

Two major earthquakes occurred within 10 hours in Kahramanmaraş on February 6, 2023, which resulted in thousands of deaths and injured people within Turkey.

To determine the relationship between moral sensitivity, spiritual care perception, and compassion fatigue among nurses caring for earthquake victims.

The study population consisted of 483 nurses working in public, private, and university hospitals in earthquake-affected areas in Turkey. The sociodemographic characteristics form, moral sensitivity questionnaire, spirituality and spiritual care rating scale, and compassion fatigue short scale were used for data collection.

There was a statistically significant negative relationship between nurses' moral sensitivity and compassion fatigue; in other words, as compassion fatigue increases, nurses' moral sensitivity decreases. A statistically significant negative relationship was found between nurses' perception of spiritual care and their compassion fatigue; in other words, as compassion fatigue increases, nurses' perception of spirituality and spiritual care decreases.

This study provides valuable insights into moral sensitivity, perceptions of spiritual care, and compassion fatigue among nurses caring for earthquake victims.

Minimizing nurses' compassion fatigue improves quality patient care, increases patient and employee satisfaction, and maintains commitment to the profession. To achieve this goal, it is essential to offer in-service training, conferences, or seminar programs to nurses focused on fostering a sense of compassion. Nurses should be provided with environments that will improve their self-care, and institutional policies and strategies should be developed to cope effectively with this situation.