Mindful Self-Care and Compassion Fatigue in Nurses: The Chain Mediating Roles of Resilience and Professional Identity

Abstract

Aim: To investigate the relationship between mindful self-care and compassion fatigue and the chain mediating effects of resilience and professional identity. Background: Compassion is a critical quality for nurses, but they often face the risk of compassion fatigue. Methods: From October 2023 to May 2024, a cross-sectional survey was conducted in six tertiary hospitals in Guangdong, Henan, and Jiangsu provinces by convenience sampling. A total of 1315 clinical nurses in the hospital were surveyed using the Social-demographic Characteristics Questionnaire, the Chinese Version of the Brief Mindful Self-Care Scale, the Chinese Version of the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale, the Professional Identity Scale for Nurses, and the Chinese Version of the Compassion Fatigue Short Scale. The mediation model was analyzed using a bias-corrected bootstrapping method with PROCESS 4.1 implemented in SPSS 26.0. Results: Pearson correlation analysis showed that there was a positive correlation between nurses' mindful self-care, resilience, and professional identity. Mindful self-care, resilience, and professional identity were negatively correlated with compassion fatigue. Resilience played a partial mediating role between mindful self-care and compassion fatigue. Professional identity also played a partial mediating role between mindful self-care and compassion fatigue; mindful self-care affected compassion fatigue through resilience and professional identity. Conclusion: Nurses' mindful self-care can affect compassion fatigue through the mediating role of resilience and professional identity. In the future, attention should be paid to cultivating nurses' mindful self-care ability and resilience and improving nurses' professional identity, which may help to reduce nurses' compassion fatigue. Implications: Hospital leaders should actively pay attention to the mental health of nurses and take measures to improve their ability of mindful self-care, which may help to prevent compassion fatigue and improve nursing quality. Reporting Method: The study adheres to the STROBE reporting guidelines. Patient or Public Contribution: No patient or public contribution.

Keywords: compassion fatigue; mindful self-care; professional identity; resilience.

Figure 1

Theoretical framework of the relationship between mindful self-care and compassion fatigue, with resilience and professional identity as mediators.

Figure 2

Flow chart of questionnaire result screening.

Figure 3

Standardized regression coefficients in the chain mediation model. c, total effect; c′, direct effect; ⁣^∗∗∗p < 0.001. Gender, age, marital status, working years, educational attainment, organizational affiliation, professional title, position title, and night shift were treated as covariates in the chain mediation model. Path coefficients are standardized.