Burnout, Compassion Satisfaction, and Personality Among Nursing Assistants: Who is at Risk?

Nursing assistants often experience high rates of turnover and burnout, which may lead to poor resident care outcomes and quality of life, as well as continued staff shortages and increased workload for nursing assistants. This study examined personality correlates of burnout and compassion satisfaction among 100 nursing assistants employed as nursing assistants in long-term care (LTC) and hospitals throughout the United States. Participants completed the Professional Quality of Life Scale 5 (ProQOL 5) and the Big Five Inventory – 2 Short (BFI-2-S). There was a significant positive correlation between compassion satisfaction and agreeableness, and extraversion, and between burnout and neuroticism. Additionally, there were significant negative correlations between compassion satisfaction and neuroticism, and between burnout and agreeableness, and extraversion. These results indicate which nursing assistants may be more likely to experience burnout and may be at an increased risk of turnover. Specific interventions may be developed for such individuals to increase compassion satisfaction, reduce burnout, and reduce staff turnover. Furthermore, information regarding personality types of individuals at greater or lesser risk for burnout may be helpful for LTC administrators in the recruitment and hiring of nursing assistants, and thus may reduce rates of turnover. Resident care outcomes may also improve as nursing assistant hiring efforts are focused more on individuals who are less likely to experience burnout. Future researchers might investigate potential risk and protective factors for burnout and compassion satisfaction in nursing assistants.