Self-compassion is the process of treating oneself kindly especially when suffering. Self-compassion is associated with decreased symptoms of burnout in nurses such that those high in self-compassion are less likely to report emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and a reduced sense of personal accomplishment.
Objectives
The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships among self-compassion, burnout, job satisfaction, and sleep quality.
Method and Participants: Recruited from MTurk, a final sample of 158 nurses living in the United States (57.6% female) completed indices of self-compassion, burnout, and outcomes of satisfaction and sleep via an online survey.
Results
Self-compassion was positively associated with satisfaction and sleep quality and negatively associated with burnout. In addition, increased burnout was associated with lower satisfaction and poorer sleep quality. Mediational models suggested that the relationships between self-compassion and outcomes were accounted for by the shared variance between self-compassion and burnout.
Conclusions
The results showed the predicted associations among self-compassion, burnout, and outcomes. Importantly, self-compassion was associated with lower burnout that, in turn, was associated with higher job satisfaction and better sleep. Despite the limitations of the study, these results add to the growing literature on the benefits of self-compassion for nurses for preventing and/or ameliorating symptoms of burnout.
AbaciR.ArdaD. (2013).
Relationship between self-compassion and job satisfaction in white collar workers. Procedia—Social and Behavioral Sciences,
106, 2241–2247. doi:10.1016/j.sbspro.2013.12.255
2.
AikenL. S.WestS. G. (1991). Multiple regression: Testing and interpreting interactions.
Newbury Park, CA:
SAGE.
3.
AronssonG.TheorellT.GrapeT.HammarströmA.HogstedtC.MarteinsdottirI.. . . HallC. (2017).
A systematic review including meta-analysis of work environment and burnout symptoms. BMC Public Health,
17, 264. doi:10.1186/s12889-017-4153-7
4.
BakerL. R., & McNultyJ. K. (2011).
Self-compassion and relationship maintenance: The moderating roles of conscientiousness and gender. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,
100, 853–873. doi:10.1037/a0021884
5.
BuysseD. J.ReynoldsC. F.MonkT. H.BermanS. R.KupferD. J. (1989).
The Pittsburgh sleep quality index: A new instrument for psychiatric practice and research. Psychiatric Research,
28, 193–213.
6.
de OliveiraD. R.GriepR. H.PortelaL. F.RotenbergL. (2017).
Intention to leave profession, psychosocial environment and self-rated health among registered nurses from large hospitals in Brazil: A cross-sectional study. BMC Health Service Research,
17, 21.
7.
DiedrichA.GrantM.HofmannS. G.HillerW.BerkingM. (2014).
Self-Compassion as an emotion regulation etrategy in major depressive disorder. Behaviour Research and Therapy,
58, 43–51. doi:10.1016/j.brat.2014.05.006
8.
DuarteJ.Pinto-GouveiaJ. (2017).
Mindfulness, self-compassion and psychological inflexibility mediate the effects of a mindfulness-based intervention in a sample of oncology nurses. Journal of Contextual Behavioral Science,
6, 125–133. doi:10.1016/j.jcbs.2017.03.002
9.
DuarteJ.Pinto-GouveiaJ.CruzB. (2016).
Relationships between nurses’ empathy, self-compassion and dimensions of professional quality of life: A cross-sectional study. International Journal of Nursing Studies,
60, 1–11. doi:10.1016/j.ijnurstu.2016.02.015
10.
DyrbyeL. N.ShanafeltT. D.SinskyC. A.CiprianoP. F.BhattJ.OmmayaA., . . . MeyersD. (2017).
Burnout among health care professionals: A call to explore and address this underrecognized threat to safe, high-quality care. National Academy of Medicine,
▪, ▪.
11.
FieldA. (2018). Discovering statistics using IBM SPSS statistics. North American Edition.
Washington, DC:
SAGE.
12.
GhorpadeJ.LackritzJ.SinghG. (2011).
Personality as a moderator of the relationship between role conflict, role ambiguity, and burnout. Journal of Applied Social Psychology,
41, 1275–1298. doi:10.1111/j.1559-1816.2011.00763.x
13.
GiorgiF.MatteiA.NotarnicolaI.PetrucciC.LanciaL. (2018).
Can sleep quality and burnout affect the job performance of shift-work nurses? A hospital cross-sectional study. Journal of Advanced Nursing,
74, 698–708. doi:10.1111/jan.13484
14.
GreenglassE. R.BurkeR. J.FiksenbaumL. (2001).
Workload and burnout in nurses. Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology,
11, 211–215. doi:10.1002/casp.614
15.
HallL. H.JohnsonJ.WattI.TsipaA.O’ConnorD. B. (2016).
Healthcare staff wellbeing, burnout, and patient safety: A systematic review. PLoS One,
11, e0159015. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0159015
16.
HayesA. (2013). Introduction to mediation, moderation, and conditional process analysis: A regression-based approach.
New York, NY:
The Guilford Press.
17.
HuY.WangY.SunY.Arteta-GarciaJ.PurolS. (2018).
Diary study: The protective role of self-compassion on stress-related poor sleep quality. Mindfulness,
9(6), 1931–1940. doi:10.1007/s12671-018-0939-7
18.
JohnsonE. A.O’BrienK. A. (2013).
Self-compassion soothes the savage EGO-threat system: Effects on negative affect, shame, rumination, and depressive symptoms. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology,
32, 939–963. doi:10.1521/jscp.2013.32.9.939
19.
KemperK. J.MoX.KhayatR. (2015).
Are mindfulness and self-compassion associated with sleep and resilience in health professionals?Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine,
21, 496–503. doi:10.1089/acm.2014.0281
20.
KhamisaN.OldenburgB.PeltzerK.IlicD. (2015).
Work related stress, burnout, job satisfaction and general health of nurses. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health,
12, 652–666. doi:10.3390/ijerph120100652
21.
LearyM. R.TateE. B.AdamsC. E.AllenA. B.HancockJ. (2007).
Self-compassion and reactions to unpleasant self-relevant events: The implications of treating oneself kindly. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,
92, 887–904. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.92.5.887
22.
MacBethA.GumleyA. (2012).
Exploring compassion: A meta-analysis of the association between self-compassion and psychopathology. Clinical Psychology Review,
32, 545–552. doi:10.1016/j.cpr.2012.06.003
McHughM. D.Kutney-LeeA.CimiottiJ. P.SloaneD. M.AikenL. H. (2011).
Nurses’ widespread job dissatisfaction, burnout, and frustration with health benefits signal problems for patient care. Health Affairs,
30, 202–210. doi:10.1377/hlthaff.2010.0100
25.
Montero-MarinJ.ZubiagaF.CerecedaM.Piva DemarzoM. M.TrencP.Garcia-CampayoJ. (2016).
Burnout subtypes and absence of self-compassion in primary healthcare professionals: A cross-sectional study. Plos One,
11, e0157499. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0157499
26.
MurisP.PetrocchiN. (2016).
Protection or vulnerability? A meta-analysis of the relations between the positive and negative components of self-compassion and psychopathology. Clinical Psychology & Psychotherapy,
24, 373–383. doi:10.1002/cpp.2005
27.
NeffK. D. (2003a).
Development and validation of a scale to measure self-compassion. Self and Identity,
2, 223–250. doi:10.1080/15298860309027
28.
NeffK. D. (2003b).
Self-compassion: An alternative conceptualization of a healthy attitude toward oneself. Self and Identity,
2, 85–101. doi:10.1080/15298860309032
29.
NeffK. D.GermerC. K. (2013).
A pilot study and randomized controlled trial of the mindful self-compassion program: A pilot and randomized trial of MSC program. Journal of Clinical Psychology,
69, 28–44. doi:10.1002/jclp.21923.
30.
NeffK. D.KirkpatrickK. L.RudeS. S. (2007).
Self-compassion and adaptive psychological functioning. Journal of Research in Personality,
41, 139–154. doi:10.1016/j.jrp.2006.03.004
31.
NeffK. D.Tóth-KirályI.YarnellL.ArimitsuK.CastilhoP.GhorbaniN., … MantiosM. (2019).
Examining the factor structure of the self-compassion scale using exploratory SEM bifactor analysis in 20 diverse samples: Support for use of a total score and six subscale scores. Psychological Assessment,
31(1), 27–45.
32.
NeffK. D.VonkR. (2009).
Self-compassion versus global self-esteem: Two different ways of relating to oneself. Journal of Personality,
77, 23–50. doi:10.1111/j.1467-6494.2008.00537.x
33.
PetersonU.DemeroutiE.BergströmG.SamuelssonM.ÅsbergM.NygrenÅ (2008).
Burnout and physical and mental health among Swedish healthcare workers. Journal of Advanced Nursing,
62(1), 84–95. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2648.2007.04580.x
34.
PreacherK. J.HayesA. F. (2008).
Asymptotic and resampling strategies for assessing and comparing indirect effects in multiple mediator models. Behavior Research Methods,
40, 879–891.
35.
ShapiroS. L.AstinJ. A.BishopS. R.CordovaM. (2005).
Mindfulness-based stress reduction for health care professionals: Results from a randomized trial. International Journal of Stress Management,
12, 164–176. doi:10.1037/1072-5245.12.2.164
36.
SmithP. C.KendallL. M.HulinC. L. (1969). Measurement of satisfaction in work and retirement.
Chicago, IL:
Rand-McNally.
37.
StammB. H. (2009). Professional quality of life: Compassion satisfaction and fatigue version 5.
St. Paul, MN:
Center for Victims of Torture.
38.
TohS. G.AngE.DeviM. K. (2012).
Systematic review on the relationship between the nursing shortage and job satisfaction, stress and burnout levels among nurses in oncology/haematology settings. International Journal of Evidence-Based Healthcare,
10, 126–141. doi:10.1111/j.1744-1609.2012.00271.x
39.
YangY.ZhangM.KouY. (2016).
Self-compassion and life satisfaction: The mediating role of hope. Personality and Individual Differences,
98, 91–95. doi:10.1016/j.paid.2016.03.086
40.
YuH.JiangA.ShenJ. (2016).
Prevalence and predictors of compassion fatigue, burnout and compassion satisfaction among oncology nurses: A cross-sectional survey. International Journal of Nursing Studies,
57, 28–38. doi:10.1016/j.ijnurstu.2016.01.012
41.
ZessinU.DickhäuserO.GarbadeS. (2015).
The relationship between self-compassion and well-being: A meta-analysis. Applied Psychology: Health and Well-Being,
7, 340–364. doi:10.1111/aphw.12051
