Experiences of perinatal nurses regarding compassion fatigue and compassion satisfaction: a phenomenological study

Abstract

Aim

This study aims to understand the essence of perinatal nurses’ experiences, thoughts, and feelings on compassion satisfaction and compassion fatigue.

Methods

The descriptive phenomenological design was used in this study. Data were collected at in-depth interviews with 16 perinatal nurses. The thematic analysis method was used in data analysis.

Results

Five main themes and 14 subthemes were determined. The first theme ‘Compassionate Caring Behaviors’ has four subthemes: affectionate behaviors, responsiveness to women’ needs, and authentic informing. The theme of ‘Gains of Compassionate Care’ has two subthemes: easier with same-sex patients and achieving moral satisfaction. The theme of ‘The Other Side of Care’ contained the subthemes not being understood, challenging care moments, specific nursing expectations, and a demanding work environment. The theme of “Relieving Burden of Care’ has three subthemes trying to understand, taking deliberate breaks in communication, and coping with the experience. The last theme ‘Cost of Caring: Compassion Fatigue’ has two subthemes: avoiding women and multidimensional fatigue.

Conclusion

This study concluded that perinatal nurses were satisfied with compassionate care, caring for same-sex patients, and achieving moral satisfaction increased their compassion satisfaction while witnessing challenging care moments such as fetal loss, and a demanding work environment triggered compassion fatigue.

Keywords:

• Compassion fatigue
• compassion satisfaction
• experiences of nurses
• perinatology
• phenomenology

Acknowledgments

We thank the perinatal nurses who were willing to participate in our study.

Ethical statement

The name of the ethics committee: Akdeniz University Clinical Research Ethics Committee; The approval number:183; The date of approval: 20/02/2019.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that they have no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. There was no financial assistance for the study. This study was produced from a Master’s Thesis.

Author contributions

Study design: ŞK, İB; Data collection: ŞK; Data analysis: ŞK, İB; Study supervision: İB; Manuscript writing: ŞK, İB; Critical revisions for important intellectual content: İB.