Current status and factors influencing compassion fatigue in clinical placement nursing students: a mixed-methods...

Compassion fatigue (operationally defined as a nursing student's reduction in empathetic capacity or interest towards 'bearing the suffering of clients' manifesting as consequent emotional and behavioural responses to secondary exposure of others' traumatic experiences) among nursing students affects not only their physical and mental health, but it may also spread and undermine the stability of the nursing profession as a whole. Therefore, this study aims to delve deeply into the causes and trends of compassion fatigue among undergraduate nursing students and gain a better understanding of nursing students' feelings, experiences and coping mechanisms in relation to compassion fatigue.

This mixed-methods study will be conducted in two phases. This study will recruit 110 nursing students from a teaching hospital in China. Eligible participants will be asked to complete validated questionnaires. Student interns will also be asked to participate in semistructured qualitative interviews to investigate their feelings, experiences and coping mechanisms in relation to compassion fatigue. Statistical analysis of survey data will include descriptive and inferential statistics, as well as qualitative content analysis.

This study has been approved by the Ethics Committee of the Chinese Medical University. The findings will be disseminated at conferences and journal articles.

Current status and factors influencing compassion fatigue in clinical placement nursing students: a mixed study (ChiCTR2500097955; Pre-results).