Longitudinal research of Nursing Students’ Inner resources for Compassionate Care: Consequences for burnout, compassion fatigue and satisfaction, well-being and quality care (NurSInCC). PID2022-139199OB-I00.

We Need Nurses Not to Lose Their Capacity to Care

Researchers Laura Galiana (Psychologist, University of Valencia) and Noemí Sansó (Nurse, University of the Balearic Islands) have been studying for years the factors that influence nurses’ capacity to care, as well as their impact on burnout, fatigue, compassion satisfaction, and the well-being of healthcare professionals. This line of research is based on the premise that, for care to be effective and truly respond to the needs of the people nurses attend to, it must be compassionate.

Recently, they received funding from the 2022 Knowledge Generation Projects call, issued by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, to carry out the NurSInCC Project (Longitudinal study of inner resources for compassionate care in nursing students: Consequences for burnout, compassion fatigue and satisfaction, well-being and care quality), a four-year project. The project, led by the two researchers, includes a multidisciplinary and international team of researchers from various universities (University of Huelva, Lancaster University, and University of Lausanne).

The main objective of the project is to apply McGaghie et al.'s (2002) inner resources for compassionate care model to better understand the processes involved in compassionate care among nursing students, the role of compassionate care in predicting professional quality of life (burnout, compassion fatigue, and compassion satisfaction), well-being, and quality of care. Based on this data, the project will explore potential ways to intervene within Nursing Degree curricula.

A longitudinal design with three waves will be used. Nursing students from the University of Valencia and the University of the Balearic Islands will participate. The online survey will include sociodemographic data, clinical practice variables, and measures of self-concept, resilience, self-efficacy, hope, optimism, positive and negative affect, ethics, self-awareness and awareness of others, self-compassion, compassion for others, compassionate care, professional quality of life, well-being, and care quality. The main statistical models to be used are structural equation models, including measurement invariance routines, multi-group models, cross-lagged panel models, and latent growth models.

Evidence suggests that nurses need to possess cognitive, emotional, moral, and awareness-related inner resources to deliver more compassionate care, maintain adequate levels of professional quality of life and well-being, and, as a result, provide high-quality care. Despite this, and the chronic shortage of these professionals—further aggravated by the healthcare crisis—research in this area remains scarce, particularly among nursing students.

The research group aims to deepen the understanding of the variables that influence the quality of care, professional quality of life, and well-being of nurses, with the ultimate goal of incorporating the training and development of these variables into the education of future professionals. Society needs nurses not to lose their capacity to care, and this study is specifically aimed at protecting this vital competency starting from undergraduate training.