THE CORRELATION BETWEEN THE COMPASSION AND RESILIENCE OF NURSES: THE CASE OF TURKEY

Purpose: The aim of this study was to determine the correlation between the compassion and resilience of nurses working in a university hospital. Methods: This descriptive and cross-sectional study was conducted with 168 nurses working in a university hospital located in the western Turkey between June-September 2019. The data were collected by the questionnaire prepared by the researchers to determine the demographic characteristics, Compassion scale developed by Pommier and Resilience Scale for Adults. The reliability and validity study of the compassion scale in Turkey was conducted by Akdeniz and Deniz in 2016. It was found that the internal consistency coefficients of the sub-scales of the scale were between 0.66 and 0.81 and their test retest reliability varied between 0.68 and 0.81. The internal consistency values of the structural equation model for the reliability of the resilience scale have been found to be 0.80 ' perception of the self, 0.75 for 'planned future', 0.82 for 'Social Competence', 0.86 for 'Family cohesion', 0.84 for 'Social Resources' and 0.76 for 'Structured style'. The reliability and validity study of the scale performed by Basim and cetin in 2011 in Turkey in 2011. Percentage, t test, Kruskal Wallis analysis of variance, Mann Whitney-U, Anova test, Pearson correlation analysis and Cronbach's Alpha internal consistency tests were used in the data analysis. Results: The compassion scale total mean score of the nurses participating in the study was found to be 4.12 +/- 0.43. The Resilience scale total mean score of the nurses was found to be 100.10 +/- 8.02. No statistically significant difference was found between gender, marital status, educational status, duration of working, place of duty, manner of work. In this study, it was determined that there was a negative and significant correlation between the compassion scale and resilience scale mean scores (r=-.237 p=.002). As the compassion scale scores of the nurses increased, their resilience score decreased. Conclusions: In the study, it was determined that majority of the nurses thought that being compassionate was important and the cultural and/or religious beliefs affected positively the attitude of being compassionate while providing care. The compassion scale total mean score of the nurses included in the study was found to be high. A negative significant correlation was determined between the compassion level and resilience. As the compassion level increases, resilience decreases.