Professional quality of life of palliative care staff and its relationship with selfcare, mindfulness and meaning of life

Abstract

IIntroduction. Professional quality of life (involving compassion satisfaction and compassion fatigue) and its related factors have been poorly explored in Palliative Care (PC). Objectives. To determine the professional quality of life of PC practitioners in Colombia and its relationship with self-care, mindfulness and meaning of life. Methods. Observational cross-sectional study. Practicing professionals of PC of Colombia were invited. Compassion Satisfaction (CS), Burnout, and Secondary Trauma (ST) were assessed using PROQOL; selfcare was examined using PSCS; MAAS was used to assess Mindfulness capacity, and the Dimensional Scale of sense of life (EDSV) was also employed. Descriptive correlational, and multiple regression analyses were performed. Results. One-hundred and eight participants participated; mean age of 38 years, 73% women, 32,4% indicated high impact on their wellbeing due to Covid-19; 85% of participants showed medium-high scores on CS, 75,9% on Burnout, and 81,5% on ST (median scores of 42.5, 21, and 12, respectively). Scores on PSCS, MAAS and EDSV positively and significantly correlated with CS, and were negatively and significantly related with Burnout and ST. Altogether, SC, MAAS and social selfcare had a negative predictive effect on Burnout levels (R2=0.538). Conclusion. Although most participants were satisfied with their jobs, scores on Burnout, and TS were high during the Pandemic. Together, compassion satisfaction, mindfulness and social selfcare were predictive of lower levels of Burnout, signaling potential lines of intervention for PC practitioners.