Professional Quality of Life and Resilience Among Nurses in a Maternal and Child Hospital in Metro Manila, Philippines

Abstract

International and local studies had shown prevalence of Compassion Fatigue (Burnout and Secondary Traumatic Stress), and Compassion satisfaction (Described as Professional Quality of Life) in different health care setting. These are considered positive and negative effects of caring which can be experienced by nurses in their workplaces. However, there are limited data on the status of Professional Quality of life of Maternal and Child nurses in the Philippines, and the role of resilience in this population which is globally known for this attribute. This study explored the level and correlation of Professional Quality of Life and resilience of Filipino nurses assigned in maternal and child locale, which is considered as one of the busiest subspecialties. A correlation research design was chosen and two hundred fifteen (215) registered nurses were sampled using a demographic questionnaire, Resilience scale questionnaire developed by Wagnild and Young (2010) and Professional Quality of Life (ProQOL version 5) developed by Stamm (2010). Results showed that despite high resilience, and high compassion satisfaction, there is high prevalence of burnout and moderate STS in this population suggesting that these positive and negative effects of caring can co-exist. High resilience and high compassion satisfaction do not diminished Burnout but may have correlation with the level of STS. Therefore, hospitals should not only focus on building resilience alone to combat Compassion Fatigue, but also to identify the root cause of Burn-out and address accordingly.