The relationships of both transition shock, empathy, resilience and coping strategies with professional quality of life in newly graduated nurses

BACKGROUND: Data on professional quality of life in newly graduated nurses are scarce. This study aimed to describe the levels of professional quality of life, and to explore the relationships of transition shock, empathy, resilience and coping strategies with professional quality of life in newly graduated nurses. METHODS: This was a cross-sectional study, which used a two-stage sampling method to recruit 393 newly graduated nurses in Sichuan province of China. Multiple regression analysis was used to explore the effects of transition shock, empathy, resilience and coping strategies on professional quality of life. Data were collected using standardized scales. RESULTS: The prevalence of average levels of compassion satisfaction, burnout and secondary traumatic stress in newly graduated nurses were 80.2, 38.2 and 57.5%, respectively. Transition shock was a significant negative predictor, and empathy, resilience and adaptive coping were significant positive predictors for compassion satisfaction. Transition shock and passive coping were significant positive predictors, and empathy was a significant negative predictor for burnout and secondary traumatic stress. Resilience and adaptive coping contributed to burnout significantly and negatively. CONCLUSION: Higher transition shock and lower empathy cause lower compassion satisfaction and higher compassion fatigue. More resilience and adaptive coping cause more compassion satisfaction and less burnout. More passive coping contributes to higher compassion fatigue. Strategies such as transition or preceptorship programmes, and empathy, resilience and coping training are effective methods to reduce transition shock, facilitate empathy, resilience and coping, and consequently, enhance professional quality of life in newly graduated nurses.