Examining the Compassion Status of Healthcare Professionals Working in the Palliative Care Units

Abstract

OBJECTIVEThis study was conducted to examine the compassion status of healthcare professionals working in thepalliative care unit.METHODSSample of the study consisted of 81 healthcare professionals working in three hospitals in Istanbul. Thedata were collected with “Sociodemographic Characteristics Form” and “Compassion Scale” in Januaryand February 2019.RESULTSIn this study, 65 (80.2%) of the participants were nurses, 12 (14.8%) were physicians and four (4.9%) werehealth staff members. There was a significant difference between the compassion scores (ZMWU=-2.470;p=0.014) of the healthcare professionals according to their gender. There was a significant difference betweenthe compassion scores (ZMWU=-2.197; p=0.028) of the participants according to their status of havingchildren. There was a significant difference between the compassion scores (t=4.128; p=0.001) of thehealthcare professionals according to their perception of interpersonal relations. There was a positively weakcorrelation between the age averages and total compassion scores (r=0.253; p=0.022) of the participants.CONCLUSIONThere are many factors that may affect the feelings of compassion of healthcare professionals who work inpalliative care, especially with patients in the end-of-life period. It is important for healthcare professionalsto know these factors that may affect their own sense of compassion and control their negative features.