Effects of a Compassion Fatigue Workshop on Psychiatric Mental Health Nurses

BACKGROUND: Compassion fatigue (CF) is a collection of symptoms associated with exposure to traumas experienced by other people. Nursing is one of the professions that experiences CF from recurrent exposure to patient and family distress and from potential acts of abuse at work. Nurses working in behavioral health are one of the highest at risk for CF. Of newly graduated behavioral health nurses, 17.5% leave the field after one year and 33.5% leave after two. Signs of CF include hopelessness, feelings of inadequacy, anxiety, depression, fatigue, and increased absenteeism. Training in self-care techniques and mindfulness builds nurse resilience and coping skills.

LOCAL PROBLEM: The setting for this project was a psychiatric hospital in East Tennessee. There were no existing programs that educated nurses about CF or techniques to combat it. The purpose of this project was to educate nurses on CF and self-care techniques that can improve the quality of care in the psychiatric environment. The aims of this initiative were to use the Professional Quality of Life (ProQOL) scale to assess nurses’ CF, present a CF workshop, reassess CF at planned periods, and compare the scores.

METHODS: The Practice-Evidence-Translation (PET) approach of the Johns Hopkins Nursing Evidence-Based (JHNEB) model provided structure for project development. Project compliance with ethical standards, regulations, and institutional policies was determined by IRB. Security for data was encrypted and anonymized through university-provided software.

INTERVENTIONS: In the initial step, participants accessed the ProQOL survey online, watched a CF video, and re-surveyed immediately afterward. Participants accessed ProQOL again at two- and four-week intervals.

RESULTS: Due to low sample size, there was no statistical significance observed. Clinical significance showing improvement in CF components was observed.

CONCLUSIONS: Having clinically significant improvement shows the potential benefits for nurses, patients, and the organization of implementing regularly scheduled CF and self-care training. Sustaining this project at the current site would most likely not be feasible at this point due to the lack of participation. However, improving recruitment strategies and providing a longer window of time for workshop participation may increase participation. Next steps for this project would include these suggestions plus a consideration of expanding participation to other facilities and job classes.