Abstract

BATALHA, Edenise; MELLEIRO, Marta; QUEIROS, Cristina  and  BORGES, Elisabete. Compassion satisfaction, burnout and secondary traumatic stress among hospital nurses. Revista Portuguesa de Enfermagem de Saúde Mental [online]. 2020, n.24, pp.25-33. ISSN 1647-2160.  https://doi.org/10.19131/rpesm.0278.

BACKGROUND: The nurses are exposed to factors that can affect their mental health because they deal with the physical and emotional pain, with serious and complex situations and often with tense situations at work. Thus, nurses are susceptible to Compassion Satisfaction (CS), Burnout (BO) and Secondary Traumatic Stress (STS), which influence their particular health and can negatively affect the care performed. Therefore, investigating this issue becomes relevant in the hospitals. AIM: Identify the level of CS, BO and STS in the hospital nurses and analyse their variation as a function of socio-demographic and professional characteristics. METHODS: Quantitative research with 201 hospital nurses, selected by sampling for networks, being 82% women, 55% aged ≤ 36 years, and 53% ≤ 13 years professional experience. The Professional Quality Scale 5 and a demographic questionnaire were used.  The ethical requirements for research with human beings were followed. RESULTS: The mean level was the most frequent for all nurses (CS: 46.8%; BO: 51.2%; STS: 56.2%). Significant negative association was found between CS and BO, and significant positive association was observed between BO and STS. There was significant result only for STS as function of the weekly workload, of which nurses who worked fewer hours’ exhibit higher level. CONCLUSIONS: In sum, results reveal the need of strategies that allow work environments with better mental health for nurses, mainly regarded to stress management, aiming reduction of BO and STS, and increase of CS.

Keywords : Nurses; Stress disorders, traumatic; Burnout; Mental health.

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