Correlation between the Professional Quality of Life and Social Support in Oncology Nurses: A Cross-Sectional Study

Author(s): Muhammad Sohaib, Ran AN, Meizi LIU, Wenfeng CHEN, Qiaomiao ZENG

Purpose: To examine the prevalence of Compassion Fatigue and Compassion Satisfaction and correlate them with Social Support among oncology nurses in Pakistan.

Design: Quantitative, descriptive, cross-sectional study.

Methods: The population size is 344 participants. An online survey was conducted using a simple random convenience sampling method to select the participants from different oncology hospitals in the province of Punjab, Pakistan. An equal chance of selection will be given to each participant. A survey was used to collect the data, then examined by using descriptive statistics and the Pearson correlation coefficient. This study employed the social support scale and the Professional Quality of Life scale version 5.

Research Variables: Compassion satisfaction (CS), Burnout (BO), Secondary traumatic stress (STS) and Social support (SS)

Findings: Demographics data shows that those who have Bachelor's and master's degrees nurses have a good level of Compassion Satisfaction and a lower level of burnout as compared to those who have only nursing diplomas. When Compassion Satisfaction and Compassion Fatigue were correlated with Social support, it was observed that Burnout and Secondary Traumatic Stress are substantially correlated with supervisors and management. In contrast, Compassion Satisfaction is highly correlated with family and friends.

Conclusions: Oncology is a stressful field compared to other departments, and a healthy and supportive environment is needed for nurses to work and enjoy their professional lives. Hospital management needed to conduct seminars and training programs for nurses to sort out their stress and patient disease management.