Wounded healers during the COVID-19 syndemic: Compassion fatigue and compassion satisfaction among nursing care providers in Greece.

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to investigate compassion fatigue (CF) and compassion satisfaction (CS) in nursing care providers in COVID-19 units. METHODS: A mixed-method study with 105 nurses. RESULTS: 23% of participants reported high CF risk while 77% expressed high to moderate potential for CS. Adequate preparation/education, clear and accountable leadership, and team sharing of feelings, experiences, and responsibilities during the transition in the COVID-19 unit helped participants to deal with overwhelming anxiety which if unattended could bring about frustration and long-lasting feelings of powerlessness. PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS: In the face of the present and future pandemics, there is a clear need to prepare healthcare organizations and nursing care providers to cope with the emotional content of public health emergencies while protecting themselves and avoid absorbing unmanageable emotions.

Reliability and Validity of the Greek Version of the Professional Quality of Life Scale (ProQOL-V).

BACKGROUND: Compassion constitutes a central element of all health and social care professions. The Professional Quality of Life Questionnaire is the most widely used instrument to measure compassion fatigue worldwide. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to provide evidence for the reliability and the validity of ProQOL-V for Greece. METHODS: A total of 261 nurses selected by convenience sampling and required to complete the ProQOL and Secondary Traumatic Stress Scale (STSS). The reliability and validity of the scale was evaluated by correlation analysis, t-test, and confirmatory factor analysis. RESULTS: The overall Cronbach's a for Compassion Satisfaction was 0.87 ranging from 0.86 to 0.87 with individual items deleted, for Burn-out was 0.73 ranging from 0.71 to 0.79 with individual items deleted and for Secondary Traumatic Stress was 0.83 ranging from 0.81 to 0.84 with individual items deleted. Additionally, the Pearson correlation r for Compassion Satisfaction, Burn-out and Secondary Traumatic Stress showed strong correlations between test-retest measurements (p<0.001). Secondary Traumatic Stress and Burn-out were positively correlated to STSS as expected (r=0.69 for Secondary Traumatic Stress and r=0.57 for Burn-out) implying sufficient convergent validity. In contrast, Compassion Satisfaction was negatively correlated to STSS as expected (r=-0.25) implying sufficient divergent validity. Goodness-of-fit indices included TLI=0.856, CFI=0.895, and RMSEA=0.063 supporting the construct validity of the three-dimensional instrument. CONCLUSION: ProQOL-V has good reliability and validity among nurses in Greece. The implications of relevant future research are important in relation to the health care management and the support and continuous education of front-line health and social care workers.