The examination of nurses' compassion fatigue, emotional labour and psychological capital levels in the context of burnout

The aim of this study is to examine the effects of emotional labor, psychological capital, and compassion fatigue levels on burnout among nurses, and to evaluate whether these variables differ in relation to demographic and professional factors. The research was conducted based on a relational survey model. The study group consisted of a total of 525 participants—395 women and 129 men—who work as nurses in public and private healthcare institutions and were reached through an online questionnaire. The data collection tools included the Socio-Demographic Information Form, the Emotional Labor Behavior Scale for Nurses, the Compassion Fatigue - Short Scale (CF-SS), the Psychological Capital Scale, and the BAT-TR: Burnout Assessment Tool. For the analysis of the research data, independent samples t-test, Pearson correlation analysis, one-way ANOVA, linear regression, and multiple linear regression analyses were used. According to the results of the independent samples t-test conducted to examine the significance of differences between binary groups based on participants' demographic characteristics, a significant difference was found in compassion fatigue based on marital status, in favor of single participants. Similarly, compassion fatigue levels significantly differed according to whether participants had chosen their profession voluntarily, with lower compassion fatigue observed among those who had chosen the profession willingly. The analyses also revealed that participants who graduated from vocational health high schools had lower levels of compassion fatigue and burnout compared to those with other educational backgrounds, while their levels of emotional labor and psychological capital were found to be higher. The main findings of the study indicate a moderate and significant positive correlation between compassion fatigue and burnout, suggesting that increased levels of compassion fatigue may lead to higher levels of burnout. A strong and significant negative correlation was found between emotional labor and burnout, indicating that emotional labor may serve as a protective factor against burnout. Furthermore, a weak yet significant negative relationship was identified between psychological capital and burnout, implying that individuals with higher psychological capital tend to experience lower levels of burnout. Overall, the results suggest that psychological capital serves a protective role against burnout, emotional labor may be experienced positively depending on the nature of the work, and compassion fatigue acts as a risk factor that contributes to burnout. Accordingly, this study not only contributes theoretically to the existing literature but also highlights the protective role of psychological capital, underlines the importance of awareness and early intervention regarding compassion fatigue and burnout, and aims to support the development of strategies that utilize emotional labor in a constructive manner to promote nurses' psychological resilience.