# Perceived Stress and Compassion Satisfaction Among Nurses: A Mediation Model of Perceived Disaster Preparedness

## TL;DR

This study shows that perceived disaster preparedness helps reduce the negative impact of stress on compassion satisfaction in hospital nurses.

## Contribution

The study identifies perceived disaster preparedness as a mediator between stress and compassion satisfaction in nurses during disasters.

## Key findings

- Perceived disaster preparedness significantly mediates the relationship between perceived stress and compassion satisfaction.
- The indirect effect was significant in subgroups of older nurses, those in southern Taiwan, and those working day and night shifts.
- Targeted interventions to improve disaster preparedness can enhance compassion satisfaction in high-risk nurse subgroups.

## Abstract

The tremendous stress that nurses experience during disaster events can affect their compassion satisfaction (CS) at work. Despite the recognized negative effects of perceived stress (PS) on perceived disaster preparedness (PDP) and CS, little is known regarding the mediating role of PDP on the PS–CS relationship.

This study was conducted to explore the significance of the PS effect on CS through PDP in hospital nurses.

A cross-sectional study design was used. Nine hundred and seventy-three nurses from hospitals in Taiwan participated in this study, which was implemented between July and October 2020. Data were collected using a basic characteristics datasheet, the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-14), and the Compassion Satisfaction Scale (CSS). A mediation model was used to test the mediating effect of PDP on the relationship between PS and CS after adjusting for covariates, and stratified analysis was conducted to explore the degree of this indirect effect within the subgroups defined by each variable.

PDP was found to significantly mediate the relationship between PS and CS in the sample (indirect effect: −0.104, 95% confidence interval: [−0.12, −0.08]). Using stratified analysis, a significant indirect effect in >30% of participants was found in the following three subgroups: >40 years old (indirect effect=−0.168, p=.016), working at hospitals in southern Taiwan (indirect effect=−0.138, p=.018), and working day and night shifts (indirect effect=−0.126, p=.023).

The findings support PDP as a resilience factor that mitigates the impact of PS on CS in hospital nurses. To enhance CS, targeted interventions such as training programs should be implemented to reduce PS and strengthen PDP, particularly in higher-risk subgroups of nurses.