Abstract

Nurses can experience stress and perceived traumatic events during their career. This distress in the workplace can affect the quality of life of nurses. Exposure to perceived distressing events may lead to burnout, compassion fatigue, post-traumatic stress disorder, patient errors or poor outcomes, horizontal violence or even nurses leaving the profession. Peer support is a strategy which has been explored to increase defensive lines and improve coping. The purpose of this descriptive, correlational study was to examine if a relationship exists between the use of peer support, as conceptualized within the framework of the Neuman System Model, and the quality of life with participating nurses. It was hypothesized that a relationship exists between peer support and the quality of life of nurses. The data analyzed from the completed surveys of the 140 participating nurses demonstrated that there were statistically significant relationships between peer support, captured through use of the PRQ 2000, and the quality of life, as operationalized through the ProQOL. There was a strong positive correlation between perceived peer support and compassion satisfaction (r = .808, p = 0.000), a strong negative correlation between perceived peer support and burnout (r = -.835, p = 0.000), and a moderate negative correlation between perceived peer support and secondary traumatic stress (r = -.324, p = 0.000). This study adds to the body of evidence regarding the quality of life of nurses who experience workplace stress, and the potential for peer support to be used as a strategy.

Description

This dissertation has also been disseminated through the ProQuest Dissertations and Theses database. Dissertation/thesis number: 10844522; ProQuest document ID: 2090075920. The author still retains copyright.

Author Details

Kim Diane Rose Maryniak, PhD, MSN, BN, RNC-NIC, NEA-BC

Sigma Membership

Non-member

Type

Dissertation

Format Type

Text-based Document

Study Design/Type

Descriptive/Correlational

Research Approach

Quantitative Research

Keywords:

Peer Support, Mental Health, Compassion Fatigue, Workplace Stress, Quality of Performance

Advisor

Susan Orshan

Second Advisor

Clea Hollis

Third Advisor

Shana Nicholson

Degree

PhD

Degree Grantor

University of Phoenix

Degree Year

2018

Rights Holder

All rights reserved by the author(s) and/or publisher(s) listed in this item record unless relinquished in whole or part by a rights notation or a Creative Commons License present in this item record.

All permission requests should be directed accordingly and not to the Sigma Repository.

All submitting authors or publishers have affirmed that when using material in their work where they do not own copyright, they have obtained permission of the copyright holder prior to submission and the rights holder has been acknowledged as necessary.

Review Type

None: Degree-based Submission

Acquisition

Proxy-submission

Date of Issue

2022-03-25

Full Text of Presentation

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