The relationship between compassion competence, satisfaction, and professional commitment levels

Background The compassionate presentation of caregiving skills, which constitute the building block of nursing care, directly affects the quality of health services. It is extremely important for the future of the nursing profession to develop compassion competence and satisfaction in students who are candidates for the nursing profession and to reveal their level of commitment to the profession. Research aim This study examined the correlation between compassion competence, compassion satisfaction, and professional commitment levels of nursing students. Research design The study was conducted as a descriptive-correlational research. Participants and research context The study was conducted between 01.05.2023 and 01.10.2024 with nursing students continuing their education in the Nursing Department of state universities in Gaziantep. The research sample consisted of 280 nursing students. A convenience sampling method was used in this study. Nursing students who met the inclusion criteria and voluntarily agreed to participate were included in the sample. Personal Information Form, Compassion Competence Scale, Compassion Satisfaction Scale, and Nursing Professional Commitment Scale were used as data collection tools. SPSS package program, t-test, ANOVA, and Pearson correlation analyses were used to analyze the data. Ethical considerations Ethical approval for the study was received from the Non-Interventional Clinical Research Ethics Committee. The study was conducted following the Declaration of Helsinki. Results Nursing students’ total score on the Compassion Competence Scale was 3.86 ± 0.04. The mean total score of the Compassion Satisfaction Scale was 50.37 ± 0.58. It was determined that the mean total score of the Nursing Professional Commitment Scale was 72.98 ± 0.77. A weak, positive, statistically significant relationship was found between compassion competence and professional commitment (r: 0.288, p < .05). A moderate, positive, statistically significant relationship was found between compassion satisfaction and professional commitment (r: 0.403, p < .05). Conclusion A positive correlation was found between compassion competence, compassion satisfaction, and professional commitment among nursing students. It is recommended to increase studies on developing empathy, compassion, and emotional resilience skills in nursing education programs. In addition, these findings emphasize that a compassion-oriented approach should be adopted to improve quality in the nursing profession.