Compassion fatigue and psychological resilience levels of nursing final students: A descriptive, cross-sectional, and relational study

Objectives. Nursing students often encounter real-life trauma situations during their clinical experience and similar workplace environment and climate as professional nurses. This research was carried out to determine the reflections of the compassion fatigue levels of nursing final year students on their psychological resilience levels. Methods. This research was conducted as descriptive and cross-sectional. The sample of the study consists of 250 final year nursing students. Data were collected using Personal Information Form, Compassion Fatigue Scale, and Resilience Scale. It was determined that the compassion fatigue and psychological resilience levels of nursing final year students were moderate. Results. It was determined that as the levels of compassion fatigue increased, psychological resilience decreased. A highly negative and significant correlation was found between the total and sub-dimension mean scores of compassion fatigue and psychological resilience (p = 0.001). Significance of results. It was found that there was a negative and high level relationship between nursing students' compassion fatigue levels and all its sub-dimensions and psychological resilience. Resilience can improve psychosocial functioning and professional performance, including for nursing students facing stressful clinical experiences. It is important to determine the compassion fatigue and psychological resilience levels of nursing students, to determine the existing problems, and to take initiatives for this.