Effect of a Compassion Fatigue Intervention on Nurses' Professional Quality of Life: A Single Group Study

The objective is to assess the effectiveness of a structured compassion fatigue (CF) Educational Self-Help Module in improving the professional quality of life (ProQOL) among nurses. CF is a decline in a caregiver's ability to empathise and be compassionate, resulting from prolonged, continuous and repeated caregiver stress. It is a recently recognised but significant problem in the nursing field worldwide.

An experimental single-group pre-test and post-test design was employed with a quantitative evaluative approach. Of the 528 eligible nurses, 42 were randomly selected using a computer-generated random numbers and 39 completed the intervention. Data were collected using a socio-demographic pro forma and the ProQOL Scale for Health Workers (ProQOL Health, Version 1), measuring compassion satisfaction (CS), perceived support (PS), burnout (BO), secondary traumatic stress (STS) and moral distress (MD). A validated, 4 h educational self-help module was delivered, with follow-up reinforcement through daily WhatsApp messages and weekly self-study materials. ProQOL scores were assessed at baseline, day 30 and day 60. Statistical analysis was performed using the Friedman test and the Wilcoxon signed-rank test.

Significant improvements were observed post-intervention in CS (from 22.67 ± 3.48 to 26.62 ± 2.96) and PS (from 20.90 ± 4.07 to 26.97 ± 4.04). Concurrently, BO, STS and MD scores significantly declined. The number of participants classified as resilient increased from 2.6% to 17.9% by Day 60.

The CF Intervention Module effectively enhanced nurses' professional well-being by increasing positive ProQOL components and reducing CF-related vulnerabilities. The study supports the integration of self-help modules into staff development programmes to improve emotional well-being, reduce BO, and ultimately enhance patient care outcomes.