World Journal of Cancer and Oncology Research

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Compassion Fatigue in Oncology Nurses: An Integrative Review

Table 2.

An overviewof the included articles.


Author (Year) Country	Design	LOE	Data Collection	Settings	Sample Size and Participants (Oncology Nurses)	Sampling Technique	Methods/Instruments	Aim	Findings

Wentzel et al., 2019 South Africa [37]	Mixed Method Sequential Exploratory Design	VI	February to June 2017	One state hospital, South Africa	8	Purposive Sampling	Semi-structured Interviews	To describe compassion fatigue from the perspectives of Oncology Nurses	Emotional connection, emotional fatigue, emotional loss, blurring boundaries and acceptance were the 5 themes that arose in this study.
Giarelli, 2016, USA [12]	Descriptive Mixed Method	VI	Not Specified	Hematology- Oncology Unit, USA	20	Purposive Sampling	Self-Report Questionnaires and In-Depth Interviews	To examine factors that influenced the nurse's perceived quality of work life and risk for compassion fatigue	Personal life stressors make the respondents more at risk of Compassion Fatigue.
Duarte & Pinto-Gouveia, 2017, Portugal [7]	Cross-Sectional Design	VI	Not Specified	Public Hospitals, North and Center regions of Portugal	221	Convenience Sampling	Questionnaires	To investigate the effect of numerous psychological factors on nurses' professional quality of life	Nurses who are more prone to burnout and compassion fatigue are more self-judgmental, and have greater psychological inflexibility.
Perry et al., 2011,Canada [28]	Descriptive Exploratory Qualitative Design	VI	Not Specified	Oncology Wards, Canada	19	Purposive Sampling	Questionnaire	To understand more about compassion fatigue in oncology nurses; explore the factors that impact their wellbeing and their patients	Oncology nurses experienced knowledge gaps and a lack of external help might lead to compassion fatigue.
Manandhar et al., 2020, Nepal[21]	Mixed Method Design	VI	July 2019 to October 2020	Bhaktapur Cancer Hospital and Kathmandu Cancer Center, Nepal	71	Purposive Sampling	Structured Questionnaire and In-Depth Interview	To assess the level of compassion fatigue as well the level of satisfaction of Nurses while caring for cancer patients	The nurses' fatigue experiences were associated with expectation gaps and challenges in exposure to patient’s death.
Kamisli et al., 2017, Turkey[19]	Quantitative Descriptive	VI	January to April 2012	Hachette University Oncology Hospital	70	Purposive Sampling	Self-evaluation Scale, Study Questionnaire andFace-to-Face Interview	To evaluate the aspects of oncology nurses about their profession in order to enhance the standards of oncology nursing	Most frequently expressed difficulties were exhaustion, coping with the psychological problems of the patients and frequent deaths.
Wells-English et al., 2019, USA[35]	Mixed Method Design	VI	3 month period (exact months not specified)	Urban for-profit CancerCenter, with 4 separate Oncology Units; Southern USA	150	Convenience Sampling	Paper surveys	To examine the relationships between CS and CF and turnover intention among oncology nurses.	Nurses who reported higher scores on burnout are more at risk of turnover intention. In contrast, nurses who experience greater satisfaction have less desire to leave their place of employment.
Arribas-Garcia et al., 2020, Spain[2]	Descriptive, correlational, cross-sectional design	VI	September 2018-March 2019	Oncology services at Basurto and Cruces University Hospitals, Spain	69	Convenience Sampling	Face to face meetings and online assessment/dossi er test	To determine the perception of Compassion Satisfaction and Fatigue of oncology nursing staff; correlation between Compassion Satisfaction and Fatigue and sociodemograph ic, professional and adaptive variables (resilience, attitudes toward death, personality); and to identify predictors of the two dimensions	Revealed a moderate level of compassion fatigue among the (n=46) participants. CF had a strong correlation with neuroticism and resilience.
Potter et al., 2010, USA[29]	Descriptive, cross-sectional design	VI	Not specified	National Cancer Institute, Mid-western USA)	153	Purposive sampling	Questionnaires	To examine the prevalence of compassion fatigue and burnout among all staff	RNs had the highest percentage of high-risk scores for compassion fatigue, and graduate- prepared nurses are at the highest risk for burnout.
Fukumori et al., 2017, Japan[11]	Qualitative study	VI	not specified	Cancer Care, Japan	30	Purposive sampling	Semi-structured interviews	To describe the components of nurses' cognitive reactions from their exposure to cancer patients' traumatic experience to the onset of compassion fatigue.	This information can contribute to the understanding of the onset of compassion fatigue and provide the foundation for nurses in cancer care to avoid and recover from compassion fatigue.
Arimon et al., 2019 Spain[1]	Multicentre/Cross-s ectional	VI	January to December 2015.	Catalonia Hospitals, Spain	297	Convenience Sampling	Questionnaire	To assess the prevalence of Compassion Satisfaction, Compassion Fatigue and anxiety in oncology nurses and the association with demographics, training,work-related conditions, and psychological factors.	Nurses’ desire to leave the unit was associated with high burnout and Secondary Traumatic Stress; while the desire to leave the profession was related to high State Anxiety.
Wu et al., 2016 USA and Canada[39]	Quantitative, descriptive, nonexperimental.	VI	Not Specified	California State University, USA	63	Purposive sampling	Demographic Questionnaire	To examine the experiences of compassion fatigue, burnout, andcompassion satisfaction among oncology nurses in the United States and Canada.	Demographic characteristics were reported comparable levels of compassion fatigue, burnout, andcompassion satisfaction. Team cohesiveness was significant to both groups.
Yu, H. et al., 2016,China [41]	Cross-sectional design	VI	Not specified	Ten tertiary hospitals and five secondary hospitals, China	669	Convenience and cluster sampling	Questionnaires	To describe and explore the prevalence of predictors of professional quality of life (compassion fatigue, burnout and compassion satisfaction)	Higher compassion fatigue and burnout were found among oncology nurses who had more years of nursing experience, worked in secondary hospitals and adopted passive coping styles.