The mediating role of empathy in the impact of compassion fatigue on burnout among nurses

Compassion fatigue and burnout are two of the main emotional states one might observe among nurses. Furthermore, the significance of empathy cannot be ignored in nursing services. The present study employs these three concepts together. Within this framework, the study aims to identify the impact of compassion fatigue among nurses on burnout as well as the mediating role of empathy in this effect. Besides, it also deals with the question of whether socio-demographic aspects of participants influence the levels of compassion fatigue, empathy, and burnout. The data collection tools for the study were the Compassion Fatigue Scale developed by Pommier (2011) and adapted to Turkish by Akdeniz and Deniz, the Spanish Burnout Inventory developed by Gil-Monte and Olivares Faúndez (2011), the Toronto Empathy Questionnaire developed by Spreng and colleagues (2009), and a survey form composed of questions aiming to determine the socio-demographic characteristics of participants. The data were collected by means of face-to-face surveys between 2 January 2019 and 16 April 2019. Validity and reliability tests were conducted for the data collected with these surveys. IBM SPSS Statistics 22 and AMOS 22 software tools were used for the analysis of the data, employing statistical methods, correlation analysis, process macro regression analysis, independent groups t-test, and one-way analysis of variance. The data were analysed within a confidence interval of 95% (p=0.05). The findings of the study suggest a statistically significant and positive correlation between compassion fatigue, burnout, and empathy. Compassion fatigue has a moderate positive effect on burnout and empathy. Empathy has a weak impact on burnout. It also plays a mediating role within the effect of compassion fatigue on burnout. In conclusion, the study advocates professional training programmes for nurses and the adoption of measures that would improve their motivation and organisational loyalty to eliminate the negative impact of compassion fatigue on burnout.