Investigating the Effects of Mindfulness Training on Empathy and Compassion Among Palliative Care Nurses

Posted: Aug 20, 2019

• Callum Drake
• Fiona Hart
• Emmett Norton

Abstract

Palliative care nursing represents one of the most emotionally demanding specialties within healthcare, requiring professionals to maintain empathic connections with patients facing terminal illness while managing their own emotional responses to suffering and death. The unique challenges of this work environment create a paradox: while empathy and compassion are essential components of quality palliative care, prolonged exposure to patient suffering places nurses at significant risk for compassion fatigue, burnout, and emotional exhaustion. Traditional approaches to supporting healthcare workers have often emphasized detachment and emotional boundaries as protective mechanisms, yet these strategies may inadvertently diminish the very qualities that make palliative care effective. This study addresses a critical gap in the literature by investigating whether mindfulness training can enhance empathy and compassion while simultaneously protecting against burnout among palliative care nurses. While mindfulness interventions have been studied in various healthcare contexts, their application to palliative care has been limited, and previous research has typically focused on stress reduction rather than the cultivation of specific professional qualities like empathy. Our research questions are: (1) Does an eight-week mindfulness intervention significantly increase self-reported and observed measures of empathy and compassion among palliative care nurses? (2) What qualitative changes do nurses experience in their relationships with patient suffering following mindfulness training? (3) How does mindfulness practice affect the sustainability of compassionate care in high-stress environments? The novelty of this investigation lies in its integrated approach, combining rigorous quantitative assessment with deep qualitative exploration of nurses' lived experiences. Furthermore, we developed a specialized mindfulness curriculum specifically designed for the unique challenges of palliative care, incorporating practices that address death awareness, grief processing, and sustainable compassion.