Patricia Price

Date Approved

12-11-2013

Embargo Period

3-3-2020

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Ed.D. Educational Leadership

Department

Educational Leadership

College

College of Education

Advisor

Sisco, Burton

Subject(s)

Secondary traumatic stress; Nurses--Education; Universities and colleges--Faculty

Disciplines

Other Educational Administration and Supervision

Abstract

There is a paucity of extant research on compassion fatigue in nurse faculty. The literature contextualized the existence of compassion fatigue in nurses practicing in the clinical area as well as those in service professions. This explanatory mixed methods study examines the risk of compassion fatigue among full time nurse faculty teaching in three four-year baccalaureate generic nursing programs. The relationship between compassion fatigue and nurse faculty's attitudes of stress in their work environment was further explored with the Margin In Life instrument to determine if there was a relationship between compassion fatigue and an individual's power, load and margin. The research consisted of two phases. The first phase involved the distribution of research packets containing the Professional Quality Of Life instrument, Margin-In-Life instruments, and open ended questions. The second phase of the study consisted of one-on-one interviews. Results indicate nurse faculty are generally satisfied with their chosen profession; however, compassion fatigue was identified in 20% of the subjects. Leadership and the work related perceptions of faculty had an impact on job satisfaction. This study provides empirical evidence that compassion fatigue does exist in this sample. Further research on a larger scale is required for generalizability of the findings.

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