Relationship Between Liking of Children and Burnout, Compassion Fatigue, Occupational Satisfaction in Pediatric Nurses

Abstract

Objective: This study aimed to determine the relationshipbetween the liking of children level of pediatric nurses and theircompassion fatigue, burnout and occupational satisfaction levels. Materialand Methods: This correlational study was conducted with 536nurses who worked in the emergency, intensive care and pediatric unitsof six hospitals in four provinces in western Turkey between Januaryand September 2017. Data were collected using a questionnaire form,the Barnett Liking of Children Scale, and the Professional Quality ofLife Scale (burnout, compassion fatigue, and occupational satisfactionsubscales). Data collection forms were filled out based on the nurses’self-reports. Data analyses were performed using the descriptive statisticsand the Spearman correlation analysis. Results: The participants’mean age was 32±7.40 years, and their liking of children, burnout subscale,compassion fatigue subscale and occupational satisfaction subscalemean scores were 86.51 (min-max=74-94), 24 (min-max=21-29),24 (min-max=21-28), and 39 (min-max=32-41), respectively. The analysesshowed a very weak negative relationship (r=-0.177; p<0.001) betweenliking of children and compassion fatigue, a weak negativerelationship (r= -0.398; p<0.001) between liking of children andburnout, and a positive moderate relationship (r= 0.516; p<0.001) betweenliking of children and occupational satisfaction. Conclusion:The study found that as pediatric nurses’ liking of children scores increased,their occupational satisfaction also increased, and their burnoutand compassion fatigue decreased. Support programs may decrease pediatricnurses’ burnout and compassion fatigue and increase their occupationalsatisfaction, thereby increasing their liking of children.