Date on Paper

8-2025

Document Type

Doctoral Paper

Degree Name

D.N.P.

Department

Nursing

Committee Chair

Ross, Ratchneewan

Committee Member

Clark, Paul

Author's Keywords

compassion fatigue; depressive symptoms; secondary traumatic stress; mindfulness-based intervention; mind-body therapies; perioperative nurses

Abstract

Background: Compassion fatigue (CF) and depressive symptoms (DS) impair the well-being of nurses worldwide, contributing to mental health conditions, poor patient care, absenteeism and turnover. Perioperative nurses are vulnerable to developing CF and DS due to demanding working environments, continually managing postsurgical pain, complications, and emotionally intensive procedures. Mindfulness-based interventions (MBI) may enhance a nurse's resourcefulness and offer coping strategies against CF and DS.

Purpose: The purpose of this quality improvement (QI) project was to implement the Three Minute Breathing Space (3MBS), a mindfulness-based intervention (MBI) and to evaluate its effects on CF and DS among perioperative nurses.

Methods: This QI project used a pretest-posttest design where PHQ-9 questionnaire measured DS, ProQOL-5 measured CF using BO and STS subscales and two process improvement questions evaluated benefit and feasibility.

Intervention: Nurse were trained on the Mindfulness-based technique, the Three-Minute Breathing Space (3MBS) and asked to perform 3 x day/per week.

Results: A significant reduction was achieved for both DS (M = 8.59, SD = 6.43 to M = 5.53, SD = 4.26; p = 0.033) and CF (M = 40.4, SD = 10.04 to M = 33.6, SD = 6.36; p = 0.021).

Discussion: The 3MBS significantly reduced CF and DS scores. Participants viewed MBI as a valuable resource for emotional grounding. Participants had lower levels of CF compared to prior literature, reflecting the less intense demands of outpatient care. Further project is needed to assess outcomes beyond the outpatient setting.

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