The project will generate scientific knowledge on the nature of compassionate care, together with its determinants and consequences, being the first longitudinal evidence at an international level. It also incorporates data on the gender role, being the first time that this variable is incorporated, not only at the level of inner resources, compassion, professional quality of life and related variables, but also as a moderator of relationships among these variables. The research will also contemplate different trajectories in the different variables under study, considering then again the role that gender plays in these.
In sum, we will use the most advanced tecniques in data analysis in order to provide longitudinal evidence of a processual model for compassionate care in nursing students, therefore promoting scientific knowledge on what internal resources facilitate greater compassionate care, and will include the consequences for professional quality of life, well-being and quality care.
- National impact will be achieved through academic (papers in Enfermería Clínica, Spanish Journal of Psychology, Annals of Psychology, and Revista Española de Salud Pública, together with national congresses participations are expected) and non-academic dissemination (Closing Sessions, meetings with representatives from professional Nursing Associations, University and Health Administration).
- International impact will be generated through various publications in high impact journals (Nurse Education Today, Nurse Education in Practice, Nursing Open, Journal of Advanced Nursing, Journal of Professional Nursing, Mindfulness, Journal of Happiness Studies), communications to international congresses (ICN International Council of Nurses Congress and NETNEP International Nurse Education Conference) and meetings with different associations (see section 4.3).
Previous research of the team guarantees the results dissemination and impact in the relevant scientific areas (through high-impact journals, national and international congress…). Additionally, as it is an international documented quandary, and PIs count with a wide, international network of colleagues and associations, scientific international impact is ensured.
The project clearly has a health, social and economic impact at the state level. Increasing knowledge about the variables that influence the quality of professional life, the quality of care, and the well-being of nurses will allow the development of policies, lines of action, and programs aimed at improving these determinants. The PIs will provide these proposals to the occupational health services of the health system, representatives of the Administration (Conselleria de Sanitat and Ibsalut), professional Nursing Associations, the General Council of Nurses, the International Council of Nurses (ICN), the National Conference of Nursing Deans (CNDE), and the State Association of Nursing Students (AEEE).
Health services are complex organizations that offer a service, not a tangible product, and the quality of this service is based on the quality of care provided by their professionals. Any measure aimed at promoting and preventing problems associated with professions that involve care, such as compassion fatigue and burnout, will have a direct impact on the quality of the healthcare system. Since nurses are the largest group within the health system, and taking into account that they are the professionals who are in closer contact with patients 24 hours a day, these effects will have an even greater impact on the health system.
Providing nurses, starting from their undergraduate training, with tools that can help them to provide compassionate care and maintain an adequate quality of professional life, avoiding the appearance of processes such as burnout, will improve the capacity of the health system to provide quality care focused on the needs of the people it cares for and, therefore, offer humane care. Any improvement in professional quality of life and well-being of nurses involves improving women’s professional quality of life and well-being (due to the great feminization of the profession), and therefore promoting gender equality.
Providing professionals with greater well-being will reduce absenteeism, the level of turnover and the rate of abandonment of the profession, which in turn means less costs for the healthcare system. In addition, reducing the risk of suffering these processes of professional burnout will improve the image of the profession and, therefore, will achieve a greater capacity to attract students to the study a nursing degree.
The project is especially aligned with the first strategic line Health of the Spanish Strategy for Science, Technology and Innovation 2021-2027 and with three of the objectives of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), specifically with number 3 Health and well-being, number 4 Quality education, and number 5 Gender equality.
In addition, according to the Triple Impact Report (APPG, 2016), the development of nursing will improve health, promote gender equality and support economic growth, so the expected impact derived from the project will contribute to the development of nursing and, therefore, to the improvement of health, gender equality and economic growth. Inclusive and sustainable economic growth is a key policy target in both advanced and emerging economies, particularly following the shock of the COVID-19 pandemic and in response to the growing climate crisis. Jobs that support more social inclusion and greater environmental sustainability, such as healthcare workers, will be critical to realizing such a vision for economic growth and development – as will finding the talent to deliver it (World Economic Forum, 2023).
