The Prevalence of Compassion Fatigue among Oncology Healthcare Professionals in Three Public Healthcare Facilities in Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa

Abstract

Compassion fatigue (CF) is a serious global challenge among healthcare professionals dealing with diseases with poor health outcomes in clinical settings. Chronic exposure to the suffering of others is inevitable in the oncology setting and remains one of the main contributors to CF. Therefore, this study determined the prevalence of CF among oncology healthcare professionals (OHPs) in three public healthcare facilities in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. This cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted among 73 OHPs using the Professional Quality of Life Scale version 5 questionnaire, and the data were analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences. More than half (56.2%) of the participants reported average scores for CF, with 43.8% of them scoring low. The participants from Inkosi Albert Luthuli Central Hospital had the highest CF mean score (26.8) compared to those from Addington Hospital (21.2) and Greys Hospital (22.9). Female OHPs had a higher mean score (24.3) for CF, compared to their male counterparts (20.6). The CF scores were positively correlated with older age and longer work experience of the OHPs. The prevalence of CF among OHPs was average, compared to those reported by other local and international studies. Nevertheless, these results cannot be taken lightly, given the straining effects of unmanaged CF on the healthcare system generally and on patient care in particular. The results of this study can potentially contribute to policy development and the planning of intervention strategies towards the effective management of CF among OHPs.

A systematic review and meta-analysis of compassion fatigue among healthcare professionals before and during COVID-19 in Sub-Saharan Africa

“…We screened the study abstracts and remained with 24 articles. Of the 24, 13 were excluded after full text screening because they did not report the main study outcome (9), were not among healthcare professionals (1), were letters to the editor (1), and were not accessed (1). The results are shown in Fig 1.…”

“…Table 1 shows that a total of 11 studies were included in the review. Studies were only from two regions: Eastern [3,4,[21][22][23][24] and Southern [1,[25][26][27][28]. Out of the 11 studies, five were done before the COVID-19 pandemic [21,[24][25][26]28] and six after the emergency of the pandemic [1,3,4,22,23,27].…”

“…Studies were only from two regions: Eastern [3,4,[21][22][23][24] and Southern [1,[25][26][27][28]. Out of the 11 studies, five were done before the COVID-19 pandemic [21,[24][25][26]28] and six after the emergency of the pandemic [1,3,4,22,23,27]. Most of the studies were conducted among nurses, while others were among general healthcare professionals and nursing students.…”

“…Compassion fatigue is a serious global challenge among healthcare professionals dealing with poor health outcome in hospital settings [ 1 ]. Before COVID-19, more than half of healthcare professionals in high income countries experience compassion fatigue [ 2 ] and there is growing evidence that it is higher in developing countries [ 3 , 4 ].…”