Prevalence of Compassion Fatigue, Burnout, Compassion Satisfaction, and Associated Factors among nurses working in cancer treatment centers Ethiopia

Abstract Background: Overuse of compassionate care to those under the care may lead to compassion fatigue and burnout. In Ethiopia, there is limited study on the positive outcome of compassionate care known as Compassion Satisfaction and the negative consequences have been described in terms of Compassion Fatigue and Burnout. Therefore, it is important to assess the negative and positive effects of compassionate care. Objective:Prevalence of Compassion Fatigue, Burnout, Compassion Satisfaction, and Associated Factors among Nurses Working in Cancer Treatment Centers in Ethiopia Methods: Institution-based quantitative cross-sectional design was conducted in five randomly selected public hospitals in Ethiopia, from May to April 2020. All the nurses who were working in the cancer treatment centers of the five hospitals were included in the study. Data were collected using a standard self-administer questionnaire and the data were analyzed by using the SPSS 21version. Descriptively: frequency, mean, standard deviation, and inferential statistics: Bi-variate and multiple logistic regression analysis were computed to measure the association of variables with compassion fatigue. Confidentiality was maintained. Result: The majority of respondents 154 (67.0%) were female. The age of the participants ranges from 20 to 65 (32.06 + 7.45) years. The mean (SD) scores for the dimensions of compassion satisfaction, burnout, and compassion fatigue were 34.41 (6.74), 27.70 (4.24), and 35.83 (7.78) respectively. This study revealed that male nurses had lower compassion satisfaction than female nurses (P = 0.007). Neuroticism personality trait had positivity associated with compassion fatigue (P = 0.001). Nurses who received low monthly income had significantly lower scores for compassion fatigue (P = 0.002). Social support was the strongest predictor of compassion satisfaction. We found that personality agreeableness, consciousness, and openness personality had significant associations with compassion satisfaction (P< 0.035). Conclusion: In general the study found high compassion fatigue and low compassion satisfaction. Further, being male, having low income and neuroticism personality were associated with compassion fatigue, while agreeableness, consciousness, and openness personality were associated with compassion satisfaction. Therefore, attention should be given to nurses working in cancer centers to ensure positive energy.