The Levels and Influencing Factors of Compassion Fatigue among New Nurses during the COVID-19 Pandemic

To investigate the levels and influencing factors of compassion fatigue among new nurses during the COVID-19 pandemic.

New nurses are often unable to cope with the escalating nursing problems during the COVID-19 epidemic because of their lack of work experience, which may reduce their level of compassion satisfaction and cause compassion fatigue. However, there is little research on compassion fatigue and compassion satisfaction among new nurses during the COVID-19 epidemic.

This was a cross-sectional study. From June to October 2021, 520 new nurses were selected from eight designated hospital for treatment of COVID-19 in China for electronic survey. Questions elicited social-demographics, work-related information, lifestyle factors, and the Chinese version Professional Quality of Life Scale.

The scores of compassion satisfaction, burnout, and secondary traumatic stress of new nurses were 31.85 ± 6.18, 27.94 ± 5.04, and 27.17 ± 4.87, respectively. In addition, regression analysis showed that nurses' compassion satisfaction, burnout, and secondary traumatic stress were affected by social-demographics, work-related information, and lifestyle factors.

During the COVID-19 epidemic, compassion satisfaction, burnout, and secondary traumatic stress of new nurses were at a moderate level, which were relatively affected by work-related information and lifestyle, and had little correlation with social-demographics. Implications for Nursing Management. Hospital administrators can promote new nurses' compassion satisfaction and alleviate their compassion fatigue by improving job satisfaction, encouraging smoking cessation, arranging work hours reasonably, ensuring sleep hours, reducing workplace violence, and strengthening the reporting of violence incidents.