Resilience as a mediator between empathy and professional grief among nurses in high-mortality services
Applied Nursing Research, cilt.85, 2025 (SCI-Expanded, SSCI, Scopus)
- Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
- Cilt numarası: 85
- Basım Tarihi: 2025
- Doi Numarası: 10.1016/j.apnr.2025.152003
- Dergi Adı: Applied Nursing Research
- Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), Scopus, ASSIA, CINAHL, EMBASE, MEDLINE
- Anahtar Kelimeler: Acute bereavement, Empathy, Nurses, Patient death, Professional bereavement, Resilience
- Maltepe Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet
Özet
Background: Nurses working in high-mortality clinical services, such as intensive care, oncology, and palliative care units, frequently witness patient deaths. This repeated exposure places them at a high risk of bereavement reactions; however, limited research has explored how individual emotional traits, particularly empathy and resilience, shape this experience. Aims: This study aimed to investigate the mediating role of resilience in the relationship between empathy and bereavement reactions—both short-term emotional reactions and long-term cumulative effects—among nurses working in high-mortality services. Methods: A cross-sectional design was used. Data were collected online from 238 purposively sampled nurses working in a tertiary public hospital in northwestern Turkey. Standardized tools were used to measure empathy, resilience, and professional bereavement. Results: Nurses reported moderate levels of bereavement reactions following patient deaths. Empathy was positively associated with both short-term bereavement reactions (β = 0.253, p = 0.001) and long-term cumulative effects (β = 0.359, p < 0.001). Resilience partially mediated these associations, reducing the impact of empathy on both short-term bereavement reactions (β = 0.071, 95 % CI [0.017, 0.133]) and long-term cumulative effects (β = 0.137, 95 % CI [0.084, 0.193]). Conclusion: Nurses in high-mortality services are particularly vulnerable to experiencing bereavement. While higher empathy intensifies bereavement reactions, resilience plays a protective role. Interventions aimed at strengthening resilience may help mitigate the negative effects of bereavement and promote emotional well-being, job sustainability, and improved patient care outcomes in these emotionally demanding settings.