Perceived health, perceived social support and professional quality of life in hospital emergency nurses.

BACKGROUND: Emergency department nurses are continually exposed to distressing experiences that can lead to burnout, compassion fatigue, and compassionate satisfaction, thus could affect the professional quality of life. The aim of this study was to analyse professional quality of life in hospital emergency department nurses based on perceived health, social support and a series of socio-demographic and sociooccupational variables. METHODS: This descriptive cross sectional study involved nursing professionals working at hospital emergency departments in Andalusia, Spain. Professional quality of life, perceived health, socio-demographic and occupational variables, and perceived social support were measured. A descriptive and multiple regression analysis was performed. RESULTS: A total of 253 nursing professionals participated, of which 62.5% had high levels of compassion fatigue and compassion satisfaction (45.1%). Burnout levels were medium (58.5%). Perceived health significantly influenced on compassion fatigue and burnout. Perceived social support was found to be significantly related to all three dimensions of professional quality of life, but it had the greatest influence on the occurrence of burnout. CONCLUSIONS: Emergency department nurses in public hospitals are emotionally drained. Healthcare systems must develop intervention strategies to increase the quality of life of nursing professionals, which would lead to improved patient care. The promotion of compassion is a key element.

Compassion Satisfaction, Compassion Fatigue, and Burnout in Spain and Brazil: ProQOL Validation and Cross-cultural Diagnosis.

CONTEXT: Palliative care professionals' quality of life has emerged as a growing issue of interest in health care literature, centered on concerns about professionals' compassion within a context of work characterized by pain and death. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was threefold: 1) to study the psychometric properties of both the Spanish and the Portuguese versions of the ProQOL scale, by means of confirmatory factor analyses; 2) to offer a diagnosis of compassion satisfaction and compassion fatigue levels of Spanish and Brazilian palliative care professionals; and 3) to compare levels in ProQOL between countries. METHODS: Two surveys with a cross-sectional design were carried out; 161 Brazilian palliative care professionals and 385 Spanish participated in this study. RESULTS: Confirmatory factor analysis for both the Spanish and the Portuguese versions showed an adequate fit. Reliability estimates were also adequate, with problems with the burnout dimension. Spanish and Brazilian palliative care professionals showed high levels of compassion satisfaction (specially, for the Brazilian samples), medium levels of secondary traumatic stress, and low levels of burnout. Finally, statistically significant differences in Spanish and Brazilian levels of compassion satisfaction and secondary traumatic stress were found, but not in burnout. CONCLUSION: The ProQOL shows psychometric goodness in its Spanish and Portuguese versions, although some items should be revised. The ProQOL is also useful for diagnosis and is sensitive enough to distinguish nuances as that found between Brazilian and Spanish professionals.

A fadiga por compaixão como ameaça à qualidade de vida profissional em prestadores de serviços hospitalares / Compassion fatigue as a professional quality of life hazard for hospital service workers

Em estudos envolvendo profissões de ajuda, especificamente, a Qualidade de Vida Profissional (QVP) refere-se a quanto o indivíduo se sente bem por ajudar a atenuar o sofrimento alheio. Tal sensação resulta do equilíbrio psicológico entre as experiências positivas no trabalho (satisfação por compaixão) e negativas (fadiga por compaixão). O objetivo dessa pesquisa foi avaliar a qualidade de vida profissional em uma amostra de profissionais de saúde que trabalham em hospitais públicos nas cidades de João Pessoa e Campina Grande (PB). Utilizaram-se como instrumentos o Professional Quality of Life Scale ProQOL - IV (validado em estudo local) e uma ficha sociodemográfica. Os dados foram lançados no programa Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS), por meio do qual foram efetuadas estatísticas descritivas (média, porcentagem e desvio-padrão) e análise de Clusters. Os resultados identificaram três perfis de QVP: equilibrado, deficitário e moderado. O primeiro e o último perfil estão com a QVP preservada; em contraste, o grupo com perfil deficitário destacou-se como o mais preocupante, visto que foi o único a apresentar indícios da fadiga por compaixão, provavelmente decorrente da excessiva carga horária de trabalho. Como a satisfação por compaixão foi dominante em todos os grupos, e a fadiga por compaixão atingiu apenas 25% da amostra, pode-se concluir que a maioria dos profissionais da saúde possui boa qualidade de vida profissional, sendo tal qualidade sustentada pelo prazer de sentir-se socialmente útil por salvar vidas...

Specifically, in studies concerning care professionals, Professional Quality of Life (PQL) refers to how much the individual feels good by helping to diminish the suffering of others. This sensation results in the psychological balance between the job's positive (Compassion Satisfaction) and negative (Compassion Fatigue) experiences. The objective of this research is to evaluate the professional quality of life of a sample of health care professionals that work in public hospitals in João Pessoa and Campina Grande (PB). We used as instruments: the Professional Quality of Life Scale - ProQOL - IV (validated in a local study) and a Socio-Demographic Questionnaire. Data was analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) program, from which we obtained descriptive statistics (average, percentage, and standard deviation), and cluster analysis. Results identified three PQL profiles: Balanced, Deficient, and Moderate. The first and last profiles have their PQL preserved; in contrast, the Deficient profile group stood out as the most worrisome, since it was the only one to present evidence of Compassion Fatigue, probably due to their excessive workload. Since Compassion Satisfaction was dominant in every group, and Compassion Fatigue affected only 25 percent of the sample, we can conclude that most health care professionals have a good professional quality of life, and this quality is sustained by the pleasure of feeling socially useful when saving lives...

A fadiga por compaixão como ameaça à qualidade de vida profissional em prestadores de serviços hospitalares / Compassion fatigue as a professional quality of life hazard for hospital service workers

Em estudos envolvendo profissões de ajuda, especificamente, a Qualidade de Vida Profissional (QVP) refere-se a quanto o indivíduo se sente bem por ajudar a atenuar o sofrimento alheio. Tal sensação resulta do equilíbrio psicológico entre as experiências positivas no trabalho (satisfação por compaixão) e negativas (fadiga por compaixão). O objetivo dessa pesquisa foi avaliar a qualidade de vida profissional em uma amostra de profissionais de saúde que trabalham em hospitais públicos nas cidades de João Pessoa e Campina Grande (PB). Utilizaram-se como instrumentos o Professional Quality of Life Scale ProQOL - IV (validado em estudo local) e uma ficha sociodemográfica. Os dados foram lançados no programa Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS), por meio do qual foram efetuadas estatísticas descritivas (média, porcentagem e desvio-padrão) e análise de Clusters. Os resultados identificaram três perfis de QVP: equilibrado, deficitário e moderado. O primeiro e o último perfil estão com a QVP preservada; em contraste, o grupo com perfil deficitário destacou-se como o mais preocupante, visto que foi o único a apresentar indícios da fadiga por compaixão, provavelmente decorrente da excessiva carga horária de trabalho. Como a satisfação por compaixão foi dominante em todos os grupos, e a fadiga por compaixão atingiu apenas 25% da amostra, pode-se concluir que a maioria dos profissionais da saúde possui boa qualidade de vida profissional, sendo tal qualidade sustentada pelo prazer de sentir-se socialmente útil por salvar vidas.(AU)

Specifically, in studies concerning care professionals, Professional Quality of Life (PQL) refers to how much the individual feels good by helping to diminish the suffering of others. This sensation results in the psychological balance between the job's positive (Compassion Satisfaction) and negative (Compassion Fatigue) experiences. The objective of this research is to evaluate the professional quality of life of a sample of health care professionals that work in public hospitals in João Pessoa and Campina Grande (PB). We used as instruments: the Professional Quality of Life Scale - ProQOL - IV (validated in a local study) and a Socio-Demographic Questionnaire. Data was analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) program, from which we obtained descriptive statistics (average, percentage, and standard deviation), and cluster analysis. Results identified three PQL profiles: Balanced, Deficient, and Moderate. The first and last profiles have their PQL preserved; in contrast, the Deficient profile group stood out as the most worrisome, since it was the only one to present evidence of Compassion Fatigue, probably due to their excessive workload. Since Compassion Satisfaction was dominant in every group, and Compassion Fatigue affected only 25 percent of the sample, we can conclude that most health care professionals have a good professional quality of life, and this quality is sustained by the pleasure of feeling socially useful when saving lives.(AU)