PURPOSE: The aim of the study was to explore the relationship between psychological capital (hope, self-efficacy, resilience, and optimism) and burnout and compassion fatigue or secondary traumatic stress among general hospital nurses, and the mediating role of compassion satisfaction in this relationship.
DESIGN: Cross-sectional survey study. Participants were 697 nurses working in different nursing departments in tertiary university hospitals in a metropolitan city in Turkey.
METHODS: The semistructured interview form, Professional Quality of Life Scale, and Psychological Capital Scale were used to gather data. Descriptive analysis, the Spearman correlation analyzer, hierarchical multiple linear regression analysis, and mediation analyzer with PROCESS and the Sobel test were used to analyze data.
FINDINGS: There were moderate relationships between psychological capital total score, all subscales, and burnout, and weak negative correlations between these variables and compassion fatigue. For burnout, self-efficacy and optimism in the first model explained 26% of the variance; when compassion satisfaction was added in the second model, 45% of the total variance was explained. For compassion fatigue, self-efficacy in the first model explained 5% of the variance; adding compassion satisfaction in the second model, the variance did not change at all.
CONCLUSIONS: The findings of the current study may contribute to enhancing the protection of nurses' well-being in their general hospital settings by developing knowledge about the resources that are needed to prevent or decrease occupational psychological risks. Increasing psychological capital levels of nurses enhances the quality of care and the sustainability of their working conditions.
CLINICAL RELEVANCE: The findings of this study can be used to design interventions to better assist nurses in addressing their psychological health. Because psychological capital is a malleable resource, nursing managers can invest in the development and improvement of nurses' resources.
