Evaluating the relationships between forgiveness, compassion and care behaviors of nurses: a structural equation modeling

Analyzing the levels of forgiveness and compassion, which may influence patient care and professional attitudes of the nurses, may provide data for nursing education and practices. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relationship between compassion, forgiveness, and the caring behaviors of the nurses and reveal the role of compassion on forgiveness and nursing care behaviors. This cross-sectional study was conducted at a research and training hospital between July and December 2021 with 515 nurses. Sociodemographic form, Compassion Scale (CS), Caring Behaviors Inventory-24 (CBI-24), and Heartland Forgiveness Scale (HFS) were used for data collection. We found a positive and statistically significant relationship between the scores obtained from the CS and the CBI-24 (p < 0.05). Additionally, there was a positive and statistically significant relationship between kindness, indifference, common humanity, separation, mindfulness, and disengagement subscales of the CS and the scores obtained from the CBI-24 and its assurance, respectful, and connectedness subscales (p < 0.05). High-quality and humane nursing care require compassionate, merciful, and sympathetic nurses. Therefore, sources of stress in the workplace should be determined and reduced to help nurses to cope with compassion fatigue. Nurses' compassion finds its reflection in the caring behavior of the nurses.