Interventions for compassionate nursing care: A systematic review
Open accessAbstract
Background Compassion has been identified as an essential element of nursing and is increasingly under public scrutiny in the context of demands for high quality health care. While primary research on effectiveness of interventions to support compassionate nursing care has been reported, no rigorous critical overview exists. Objectives To systematically identify, describe and analyse research studies that evaluate interventions for compassionate nursing care; assess the descriptions of the interventions for compassionate care, including design and delivery of the intervention and theoretical framework; and to evaluate evidence for the effectiveness of interventions. Review methods Published international literature written in English up to June 2015 was identified from CINAHL, Medline and Cochrane Library databases. Primary research studies comparing outcomes of interventions to promote compassionate nursing care with a control condition were included. Studies were graded according to relative strength of methods and quality of description of intervention. Narrative description and analysis was undertaken supported by tabulation of key study data including study design, outcomes, intervention type and results. Results 25 interventions reported in 24 studies were included in the review. Intervention types included staff training (n=10), care model (n=9) and staff support (n=6). Intervention description was generally weak, especially in relation to describing participants and f…
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Mindfulness may increase compassion and reduce burnout in nurses.
“Research in health care shows that mindfulness may increase compassion and reduce burnout in nurses (Blomberg et al., 2016; Guillaumie et al., 2017; Singer & Klimecki, 2014).”
From Emergency department nurses' experiences of a mindfulness training intervention: A phenomenological exploration (2023) · cites this paper as Blomberg et al., 2016
A review of 24 studies of mindfulness meditation in nursing care found that it was difficult to draw conclusions about the effectiveness of mindfulness given the current state of inquiry.
“However, a review of 24 studies of mindfulness meditation in nursing care found that it was difficult to draw conclusions about the effectiveness of mindfulness given the current state of inquiry (Blomberg et al., 2016).”
From Emergency department nurses' experiences of a mindfulness training intervention: A phenomenological exploration (2023) · cites this paper as Blomberg et al., 2016
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Developing and evaluating complex interventions: the new Medical Research Council guidance
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“While just under half of all outcomes assessed showed positive statistically significant results, evidence from analyses of outcomes from trials suggests that unreported outcomes are much more likely to be non-significant (Chan and Altman, 2005).”
ResultAnglemyer, A., Horvath, H. T., & Bero, L. (2014) · Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews · doi:10.1002/14651858.mr000034.pub2 · Cited by 534 · see citing works
An on-the-job mindfulness-based intervention for pediatric ICU nurses: a pilot
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“Four studies were before and after studies with separate intervention and control groups (Horner et al., 2014; Searcy, 1990; McGilton et al., 2003; Pålsson et al., 1996).”
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Mascaro, J. S., Florian, M. P., Ash, M. J., Palmer, P. K., Frazier, T., Condon, P., & Raison, C. (2020) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2020.547241 · Cited by 118 · see citing works
The impact of compassionate care education on nurses: A mixed‐method systematic review
Coffey, A., Saab, M. M., Landers, M., Cornally, N., Hegarty, J., Drennan, J., Lunn, C., & Savage, E. (2019) · Journal of Advanced Nursing · doi:10.1111/jan.14088 · Cited by 63 · see citing works
Trygg Lycke, S., Airosa, F., & Lundh, L. (2023) · Journal of Holistic Nursing · doi:10.1177/08980101221100091 · Cited by 12 · see citing works
- Authors
- Blomberg, K., Griffiths, P., Wengström, Y., May, C., & Bridges, J.
- Affiliations
- Örebro University (SE)
- National Institute for Health and Care Research (GB)
- Karolinska Institutet (SE)
- Corresponding author
- Blomberg, Karin
- Venue
- International Journal of Nursing Studies
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2016-10
- Volume
- 62
- Pages
- 137-155
- ISSN
- 0020-7489 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2470153523
- Cited by
- 111
- References
- 8
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 9 · 2024: 12 · 2023: 12 · 2022: 12 · 2021: 10 · 2020: 18 · 2019: 13 · 2018: 16 · 2017: 5
- FWCI
- 3.04
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Update notices
- erratum (2018-07-01)
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- International Journal of Nursing Studies (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- ePrints Soton (University of Southampton) (acceptedVersion)
- LSHTM Research Online (London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine) (acceptedVersion)
- ePrints Soton (University of Southampton) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institute for Health Research
- Örebro University
- Karolinska Institutet
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Nursing › Research and Theory › Nursing education and management
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Health Policy Implementation Science
- Health Sciences › Nursing › Leadership and Management › Healthcare Education and Workforce Issues
- Keywords
- compassionate nursing care, nursing interventions, employee training, models of care, staff support, intervention effectiveness, methodological quality, patient outcomes, quality of care, nurse-patient relationship
- MeSH terms
- Empathy, Humans, Nursing Care
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