Date of Conferral

6-6-2024

Date of Award

June 2024

Degree

Ph.D.

School

Nursing

Advisor

Leslie Hussey

Abstract

The turnover rate among mental health nurses is consistently higher than other areas of nursing practice creating a shortage. Factors that contribute to nursing turnover, leaving the profession, and a subsequent shortage of mental health nurses include compassion satisfaction (CS), compassion fatigue (CF), managerial support, and intent to leave. The purpose of this study, guided by Stamm’s theory, was to determine if there was a relationship among CS, CF, managerial support, and intent to leave in mental health nurses. The Professional Quality of Life Scale was used to measure CS and CF, the Practice Environment Scale of the Nursing Work Index was used to measure managerial support, and the Michigan Organizational Assessment Questionnaire was used to measure intent to leave. One hundred and twenty-six participants answered the survey. The data showed that there was statistical significance between the relationship of CS, CF, managerial support, and intent to leave. The effects were small. Future research recommendations include large scale quantitative research studies that gain a larger representation of mental health nurses from across the country. Adding research from a qualitative approach would allow open-ended questions and focus groups to gain additional insight into this population of nurses. The potential for positive social change is for organizations to understand how CS, CF, and managerial support influence mental health nurses as a contributor to retention and/or intent to leave. This study provides evidence that organizational initiatives can have a positive impact to support mental health nurses leading to a positive social change in mental health nursing.

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