ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Psychology for Clinical Settings
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1463319
Compassion fatigue and transition shock of internship nursing students
Provisionally accepted
- Affiliated Hospital of Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, China
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Background Transition shock experienced by nursing students during the middle and later stages of their clinical internships can significantly influence their post-graduation career decisions. Compassion fatigue, prevalent among interns, may exacerbate this transition shock. This study aims to investigate the current status of compassion fatigue and transition shock among nursing students in the middle and late phases of their internships and explore the correlation between these two phenomena.Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted using convenience sampling to recruit 201 nursing interns from a tertiary A hospital between July 2022 and June 2023. Data were collected using the General Information Questionnaire, the Professional Quality of Life Scale (ProQOL-5), and the Transition Shock Scale for Undergraduate Nursing Students (UNSTS). Statistical analyses, including univariate analysis and multiple linear regression, were performed to examine the influencing factors of transition shock and the impact of compassion fatigue on transition shock.The median scores for the three dimensions of compassion fatigue-compassion satisfaction, job burnout, and secondary trauma-were 26 (24, 30), 29 (26, 30), and 28 (25, 30), respectively. The median total score for transition shock was 48 (42, 54). Multiple linear regression analysis revealed that satisfaction with clinical teachers, compassion satisfaction, job burnout and secondary trauma 2 were key influencing factors of transition shock, collectively accounting for 53.2% of its variance.The findings highlight the severity of compassion fatigue and transition shock among nursing students in the middle and later stages of their internships.Effective mitigation requires structured mentorship, psychological support systems, and resilience training, thereby supporting the retention and professional development of nursing students.
Keywords: compassion fatigue, Transition shock, nursing internship, Job burnout, Clinical practicum
Received: 11 Jul 2024; Accepted: 06 Jun 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Li, Kong, Wang and Qin. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Jing Wen Qin, Affiliated Hospital of Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, China
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