Available online 23 May 2024, 151655

Author links open overlay panel, , , , , , , AbstractObjectives

This study aimed to discuss how compassion fatigue (CF) develops and its repercussions on the personal and professional lives of oncology nurses.

Methods

A discursive article, with systematic searches were performed in seven databases to find publications on CF in oncology nurses.

Results

So as to better organize the findings, three categories were developed to present and discuss issues related to CF: (1) Characteristics of CF and its developments: describes the components related to CF and the manifestation of this phenomenon; (2) Repercussions of compassion fatigue: reports on the impact of CF on the personal and professional life of oncology nurses; and (3) Resources for dealing with compassion fatigue: lists interventions, sources of support, professional personal training, qualified nursing care in the face of adversity, and gratitude and recognition.

Conclusion

the factors that trigger or protect CF are multifactorial, with the need for collective and individual interventions as a way of helping oncology nurses to protect themselves, to avoid or manage this phenomenon. CF has a direct clinical impact on the life of the oncology nurse, causing several changes. It also indirectly impacts the patient's life clinically, as it is a phenomenon that has repercussions on the provision of care.

Implications for Nursing Practice

CF affects the personal and professional lives of oncology nurses, so nurses need to seek resources to deal with it. Nursing staff employers and managers can use the evidence from this research to help nurses manage and protect themselves from compassion fatigue.

Section snippetsAim

This discussion article aims to discuss how compassion fatigue develops and its repercussions on the personal and professional lives of oncology nurses.

Method

The first author conducted a systematic search of the PubMed, CINAHL, Embase, Scopus, Web of Science, PsycINFO, and LILACS databases to support the preparation of our discussion for this study. The terms and keywords used were "compassion fatigue," "oncology nursing," and "cancer," separated by Boolean operators (AND/OR) (Supplementary File 1). The search strategies were adapted to the characteristics of the individual databases. Studies in Portuguese, English, Spanish, and French published up

Components Related to CF

CF is related to the following components: Personal characteristics and life circumstances of nurses; personal and professional experiences related to cancer; interactional aspects between the nurse-patient dyad; work process in the oncological context; and meaning and purpose of life. A summary of the literature findings, which encompass these components related to CF, is presented in Table 1.

Nurses' Characteristics, Life Circumstances, and Experiences Related to Cancer

It is still not clear in the literature if age, length of professional experience, and marital status

Repercussions of Compassion Fatigue

CF presented consequences in the personal life of oncology nurses due to the neglect of their own needs and a lack of priority for their self-care in favor of patient care.21 A summary of the literature findings about repercussions of CF is presented in Table 2.

Personal stressors, such as health problems and problems related to the home environment associated with work, increase CF.16 On the other hand, good health conditions were related to lower CF.31 CF was linked to losses in personal

Resources to Deal With Compassion Fatigue

Faced with the impacts that the nature of oncology work has on nurses' personal and professional lives, the literature presents sources of support and ways to deal with the complexity that is involved in their work, these include support from coworkers, support through social support networks, institutional support, support through qualified nursing care in the face of adversity, and gratitude and recognition. A summary of the literature findings about resources to deal with compassion fatigue

Implications for Practice

CF is closely linked to witnessing and experiencing suffering, which is something inherent to nurses working in oncology. This phenomenon impacts the lives of oncology nurses in a comprehensive way, so that all areas of their lives are affected, which can lead these professionals to physical and emotional illness. Thus, recognizing the inherent connection between compassion fatigue and the nature of oncology work is a crucial insight. This understanding recognizes the unique challenges faced by

Conclusion

CF is a phenomenon present in the context of oncology nursing that directly affects the personal and professional lives of nurses. It is noted that the nature of the oncology nurse's work is associated with the individual's personal characteristics, and that the quality of the support received to assist in the management of CF, along with the practice or not of self-care are considered potential triggers or protectors of this phenomenon. Therefore, in the development of CF among oncology

CRediT authorship contribution statement

Louise Bittencourt Paes Abreu dos Santos: Writing – review & editing, Writing – original draft, Visualization, Validation, Software, Resources, Methodology, Formal analysis, Data curation, Conceptualization. Willyane de Andrade Alvarenga: Writing – review & editing, Writing – original draft, Visualization, Validation, Supervision, Software, Resources, Project administration, Methodology, Investigation, Formal analysis, Data curation, Conceptualization. Ana Carolina Andrade Biaggi Leite: Writing

Declaration of competing interest

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Funding

This study was supported by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior—Brasil (CAPES), finance code 001; and the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) (financial codes: 200580/2022-1 and 423986/2018-0).

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