This study is designed to develop a compassion fatigue relieving program for nurses experiencing compassion fatigue, based on the treatment training model introduced by Gentry (2002) and the preceding studies, and verify its effectiveness. The non-equivalent pretest-posttest control group design was used in the study. The subjects were 39 nurses working in O General Hospital in B city who satisfied all the selection criteria for the research and agreed to participate in the study, with 21 people in the experimental group and 18 people in the control group. Data were collected between September and October 2015. The compassion fatigue reduction program implemented in this study was comprised of 4 weekly 2-hour sessions (for a total of 8 hours), consisting of lecture, individual activity, group activity, fieldwork, and debriefing.

In carrying out the research, we conducted the compassion fatigue relieving program on the experimental group while we only performed data collection for the control group without offering any training over the same time period. In collecting data, compassion fatigue, self-efficacy, compassion satisfaction, burnout, silencing response, and nursing performance were measured for experimental and control group in both the pre-test and two post-test. Immediately following the completion of the program, we measured compassion fatigue, self-efficacy, compassion satisfaction, burnout, silencing response, nursing performance, and program satisfaction for the first post-test experimental group. We then measured compassion fatigue, compassion satisfaction, self-efficacy, burnout, silencing response, and nursing performance for the control group. Collected data were analyzed using repeated measure ANOVA and paired t-test.

Findings from the study are as follows:

1) Hypothesis 1: “The experimental group which participated in the compassion fatigue relieving program will experience a lower level of compassion fatigue than the control group.” The data verified a statistically significant difference between the groups (F=3.562, p=.033), supporting the first hypothesis.

2) Hypothesis 2: “The experimental group which participated in the compassion fatigue relieving program will have a higher level of compassion satisfaction than the control group.” The study found no statistically significant relationship between the groups (F=1.659, P=.202). Hence, the second hypothesis was rejected.

3) Hypothesis 3: “The experimental group which participated in the compassion fatigue relieving program will have a higher level of self-efficacy than the control group.” Results showed that there was a statistically significant difference between the groups (F=4.521, p=.014), supporting the third hypothesis.

4) Hypothesis 4: “The experimental group which participated in the compassion fatigue relieving program will have a lower level of burnout than the control group.” The analysis revealed that there was no statistically significant relationship between the groups (F=1.951, p=.149), and therefore the fourth hypothesis was rejected.

5) Hypothesis 5: “The experimental group which participated in compassion fatigue relieving program” will have a lower level of silencing response than the control group.” The study verified that there was a statistically significant difference between the groups (F=3.146, p=.049), supporting the fifth hypothesis.

6) Hypothesis 6: “The experimental group which participated in the compassion fatigue relieving program will show improved nursing performance than the control group.” Our observations indicated a statistically significant difference between the two groups (F=6.497, p=.005), supporting the sixth hypothesis.

In conclusion, the effectiveness of the compassion fatigue relieving program specifically designed for nurses experiencing compassion fatigue has not been verified for compassion satisfaction and burnout. However, we were able to demonstrate that it serves as an effective medium for promoting self-efficacy and nursing performance while reducing compassion fatigue and silencing response. Accordingly, compassion fatigue relieving program appears to be an effective management strategy for nursing human resources by helping to ameliorate compassion fatigue symptoms among nurses.