Relationship between Job Stress and Compassion Satisfaction, Compassion Fatigue, Burnout for Nurses in Children’s Hospital

Purpose: Nurses experience burnout related to various factors. For this descriptive research job stress, compassion satisfaction, and compassion fatigue were examined as to their relationship to burnout in nurses from children’s hospital. Methods: The participants were 305 nurses working in children’s hospital. Self-report questionnaires were used to measure job stress, compassion satisfaction, compassion fatigue and burnout. Results: Nurses in children’s hospital experienced a greater than moderate degree of job stress, compassion satisfaction, compassion fatigue and burnout, whereas differences existed according to general characteristics. Job stress, compassion fatigue and burnout showed a significant positive correlation and results of compassion fatigue and burnout were similar. Also, job stress, compassion satisfaction and compassion fatigue were associated with burnout in nurses working in children’s hospital. Conclusion: Findings indicate that as longer work experience is accompanied by higher job stress and burnout, it is necessary to develop intervention programs to reduce burnout among career nurses exposed to greater job stress in children’s hospital.