- Title
- Unit managers’ perceptions of compassion fatigue among nurses at private hospitals in the Eastern Cape
- Creator
- Els, Lisa Victoria
- Subject
- Medical personnel -- Job stress
- Subject
- Burn out (Psychology) -- Treatment
- Subject
- Compassion
- Date Issued
- 2023-04
- Date
- 2023-04
- Type
- Master's theses
- Type
- text
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/10948/69637
- Identifier
- vital:78002
- Description
- Caring has been described in literature as encompassing empathy, attentiveness, experience, and sensitivity, which is then translated into nursing bedside practice. However, the cost of caring may cause nurses to become withdrawn and unable to care for their patients. This phenomenon is called compassion fatigue (CF), where nurses feel unable to respond to their patients and become withdrawn from stressful scenarios in the unit. CF is prevalent globally among nurses based in all hospital disciplines. The aim of the study is to explore unit managers’ perceptions of CF among nurses in private hospitals in the Eastern Cape in order to develop recommendations for UMs on how to respond to CF among nursing staff. The study used a qualitative, exploratory-descriptive approach. The researcher used Williams, McDowell and Kautz’s (2011) Caring Leadership Model to explore the UMs’ perceptions of CF. The population chosen for this study was the UMs in private hospitals in the Eastern Cape. A minimum of 12 UMs were purposively sampled to take part in the study. Data was collected by means of semi-structured individual interviews. Lincoln and Guba’s four criteria of trustworthiness, namely: credibility, conformability, dependability and transferability were applied to enhance the quality of the study. The researcher upheld the ethical standards of the Belmont Report throughout the course of the study. Five themes were identified using Braun and Clarke’s data analysis method. The themes identified were: Theme 1: UMs’ perceptions of the manifestations of CF among their nursing staff; Theme 2: UMs’ perceptions of contributors to CF among their nursing staff; Theme 3: UMs identified that patient outcomes may have been hindered by CF among their nursing staff; Theme 4: UMs sought to enhance the well-being of their nursing staff which may have mitigated possible CF; Theme 5: Suggestions by UMs regarding UM self-awareness and improved support for each other. Hence the complex phenomenon of CF was explored through the UMs’ descriptions of their perceptions as leaders of nurses in the nursing practice setting. The UMs shared the difficulty of their roles, most especially related to how they struggled to vi support their staff while at the same time, feeling unsupported themselves. UMs were struggling, with staff who appeared to have CF. UMs reported that staff seemed more irritable, and angry. Added to these changes in behaviour, were signs that staff were not coping with the workload as well as with very ill patients. These changes in behaviour, signs of emotional and physical fatigue as well as higher rates of absenteeism all seemed to be aligned with the classical signs and symptoms of CF as described in much of the literature. Once the themes had been identified, a modified version of the AGREE II tool was used as a framework to develop the following recommendations: Recommendation 1: Facilitate UM peer support regarding CF management; Recommendation 2: Train UMs regarding CF and related conditions; Recommendation 3: Assist UMs to support their staff who are exhibiting CF.
- Description
- Thesis (MCur) -- Faculty of Health Sciences, School of Clinical Care & Medicinal Sciences, 2023
- Format
- computer
- Format
- online resource
- Format
- application/pdf
- Format
- 1 online resource (159 pages)
- Format
- Publisher
- Nelson Mandela University
- Publisher
- Faculty of Health Sciences
- Language
- English
- Rights
- Nelson Mandela University
- Rights
- All Rights Reserved
- Rights
- Open Access
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Collections
NMU School of Clinical Care Sciences
| Thumbnail | File | Description | Size | Format | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| View Details Download | SOURCE1 | ELS, LV.pdf | 1 MB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download |