Obstacles to compassion‐giving among nursing and midwifery managers: an international study

Abstract

To explore nursing and midwifery managers' views regarding obstacles to compassion-giving across country cultures. Background: The benefit of compassionate leadership is being advocated, but despite the fact that health care is invariably conducted within culturally diverse workplaces, the interconnection of culture, compassion and leadership is rarely addressed. Furthermore, evidence on how cultural factors hinder the expression of compassion among nursing and midwifery managers is lacking. Methods: Cross-sectional, exploratory, international online survey involving 1 217 participants from 17 countries. Managers' responses on open-ended questions related to barriers for providing compassion were entered and thematically analysed through NVivo. Results: Three key themes related to compassion-giving obstacles emerged across countries: 1. related to the managers' personal characteristics and experiences; 2. system-related; and 3. staff-related. Conclusions: Obstacles to compassion-giving among managers vary across countries. An understanding of the variations across countries and cultures of what impedes compassion to flourish in health care is important. Implications for nursing practice and policy: Nursing mangers should wisely use their power by adopting leadership styles that promote culturally competent and compassionate workplaces with respect for human rights. Policymakers should identify training and mentoring needs to enable the development of managers' practical wisdom. Appropriate national and international policies should facilitate the establishment of standards and guidelines for compassionate leadership, in the face of distorted organizational cultures and system-related obstacles to compassion-giving.

Compassionate Practices for Nurse Managers in Colombia

“…It is an entirely invisible issue, as institutions fail to consider stimuli or regulations that favor compassion; to these aspects, undergraduate training is also added, disregarding this competence. These findings have been made visible in other studies, both in Latin America and worldwide (17,23,31). These studies reiterate the relevance of a renewal in healthcare that needs to be claimed with integral humanization from compassionate practices, including a change in the triad: the health system, the organizational level, and personnel transformation.…”

“…These factors have been reported in other studies (11,12,17,18). They are potentially influential in reducing compassion levels and leading to moral distress, given that, as reported in the international study with nurse managers (17), compassionate practice is considered highly demanding and causes more stress. For this purpose, other studies have recommended implementing strategies that improve well-being and relational leadership (23,30).…”

“…Recent studies with nurses from different parts of the world show the perceptions of compassion, the actions in which they materialize it, and its effects (13)(14)(15)(16)(17). In addition, reflections have been drawn on leadership strengthened by compassion, which can lead to job satisfaction, improve organizational sustainability, mitigate harm, reduce costs, and allow progress in comprehensive health quality processes (15,18,19).…”

Identity - an Influential Factor in Modernization of Healthcare Systems in Hungary and Serbia

“…Regarding Hungary, it should be highlighted that the fear of losing authority by giving compassion appears to drive some managers towards emphasizing rules, tasks, and results. Also, stress and burnout were outlined as barriers to compassion (Papadopoulos et al, 2020).…”

Experiences of oncology nurses regarding self‐compassion and compassionate care: A qualitative study

“…Although compassion may seem like a cost‐free solution to patient care problems in the health system, it can cause nurses to be affected by emotional interactions with patients, and to experience compassion fatigue and burnout (Bivins et al., 2017). It is vital for nurses to have appropriate resources and to work with compassionate leaders in the workplace to be able to alleviate the suffering of patients and meet their needs (Papadopoulos et al., 2020).…”