Australian neonatal nurses' professional quality of life: A descriptive cross-sectional study

This descriptive cross-sectional study investigated the demographic profile of surveyed Australian neonatal nurses, explored their self-reported professional quality of life status, and appraised the strength and direction of relationships between these variables. Australian College of Neonatal Nurses (ACNN) general members (N = 950) were invited to participate. An online QualtricsTM survey was distributed via email. Compassion satisfaction (CS) and fatigue (CF) scores were measured using the Modified Professional Quality of Life Scale (ProQOL-21]). Spearman's correlation calculated the strength and direction of relationships between variables. Fifty-three neonatal nurses responded to the survey (N = 950, response rate = 5.58%). Respondents reported moderate to high-level compassion satisfaction and high-level compassion fatigue. Nurses in clinical roles revealed higher compassion fatigue scores than those in non-clinical roles. A statistically significant positive correlation was detected between years of experience in neonatal care and compassion satisfaction (r = 0.277, 95% CI [0.002, 0.513]). These findings question the belief that education and experience safeguard against work-related stress and emphasise that strategies to offset the fatigue reported by this female-dominated workforce are needed.