Impact of emotional labour and workplace violence on professional quality of life among clinical nurses

Aim We examined Korean nurses professional quality of life, emotional labour and workplace violence to guide development of interventions to improve nurses professional quality of life. Background Nurses face heavy exposure to emotional labour and workplace violence. Stress experienced by nurses reduces compassion satisfaction and increases compassion fatigue. Methods Participants comprised 399 clinical nurses chosen by convenience sampling. Questionnaires measured demographic characteristics, emotional labour, workplace violence and professional quality of life. Results Nurses professional quality of life was affected by emotional labour and workplace violence. Graduate educational level, emotional exposure and emotional supervision were associated with compassion satisfaction. Burnout was commonly associated with emotional exposure, experience and supervision of workplace violence. Secondary traumatic stress was associated with emotional exposure and experience of workplace violence. Conclusions We elucidated the relationship between professional quality of life, emotional labour and workplace violence. Raising professional quality of life among nurses requires regular analysis of emotional labour and provision of organizational-level interventions. Counselling programmes that address violence prevention education and comprehensive response strategies among nurses and policies that foster an organizational culture of respect and cooperation in hospitals are needed.