Kontakt X:X | DOI: 10.32725/kont.2026.048

The relationship between compassion and burnout among employees in social care institutionsNursing - Original article

Nađa Antonić * ORCID..., Mirko Prosen ORCID..., Erza Berisha Zyba, Sabina Ličen ORCID...
University of Primorska, Faculty of Health Sciences, Department of Nursing, Izola, Slovenia

The aim of the study was to examine the relationship between compassion and burnout among employees in social care institutions. A quantitative non-experimental research design was employed. Data were collected between October and December 2025 in five nursing homes for older adults in the North Primorska region. 158 nursing employees were recruited using the snowball sampling method. The results showed that employees had a moderate level of burnout and high levels of compassion. Spearman's correlation analysis indicated that higher overall compassion was significantly associated with lower emotional exhaustion (ρ = -0.271, p-value 0.001) and depersonalisation (ρ = -0.318, p-value 0.001), and with higher personal accomplishment (ρ = 0.644, p-value 0.001). However, multiple regression analysis showed that compassion was not a significant predictor of emotional exhaustion or depersonalisation, while it significantly predicted personal accomplishment. Work experience and gender emerged as significant predictors of emotional exhaustion and depersonalisation. The study's findings indicate that compassion supports employee well-being, particularly by enhancing personal accomplishment; however, burnout is also influenced by demographic and organisational factors. Therefore, preventing burnout requires both strengthening individual compassion and improving organisational conditions such as staffing, workload, and support.

Keywords: Compassion; Nurses; Professional burnout; Social care institutions
Conflicts of interest:

The authors have no conflict of interest to declare.

Received: March 20, 2026; Revised: June 10, 2026; Accepted: July 2, 2026; Prepublished online: August 13, 2026 

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