Influence of type D personality on job stress and job satisfaction in clinical nurses: the mediating effects of compassion fatigue, burnout, and compassion satisfaction.

AIMS To test a hypothetical path model evaluating the influence of type D personality on job stress and job satisfaction and to identify the mediating effects of compassion fatigue, burnout, and compassion satisfaction among clinical nurses in South Korea. BACKGROUND Personalities susceptible to stress, compassion fatigue, and burnout in clinical nurses have negative effects on the job stress and job satisfaction. DESIGN A correlational, cross-sectional design was used. METHODS A convenience sample of 875 clinical nurses was recruited between December 2014 - February 2015. The structured questionnaires included the Type D personality scale-14, Professional Quality of Life, job stress, job satisfaction, and general characteristics. To test the hypothetical path model, we performed a path analysis by using the AMOS 18·0 program. FINDINGS Based on the path model, type D personality was significantly associated with compassion fatigue, burnout, and compassion satisfaction in our study subjects. Type D personality was significantly associated with job stress and job satisfaction via the effect of burnout, compassion satisfaction, and job stress. CONCLUSION Since type D personality is associated with job stress and job satisfaction, identifying personalities vulnerable to stress would help to address job stress and to enhance job satisfaction when nurses have a high level of compassion fatigue and burnout and a low level of compassion satisfaction. The development of interventions that can reduce negative affect and social inhibition of nurses with type D personality and investigation of methods to decrease their compassion fatigue and burnout and to increase compassion satisfaction should be encouraged.