Vicarious Trauma, Resilience, Emotional Regulation and Professional Quality of Life Among Nurses Working in Intensive Care Unit (ICU)

Abstract

The primary goal of the study was to investigate the relationship between vicarious trauma, resilience, emotional regulation and professional quality of life among nurses working in intensive care unit, as well as to identify moderating role of resilience in these nurses. A cross-sectional research design was used. The sample of the study was nurses (N=200) and they were selected using purposive sampling from different government and private hospitals. The questionnaires used in the study were the Vicarious Trauma Scale (Vrklevski & Franklin, 2008), the Brief Resilience Scale (Smith et al, 2008), Emotional Regulation Questionnaire (Gross and John (2003) and the Professional Quality of Life Scale Version 5 (Stamm, 2010). Results showed that vicarious trauma has a substantial negative correlation with resilience, compassion satisfaction but a positive correlation with emotion regulation, burnout and secondary traumatic stress. Resilience has a positive association with compassion satisfaction, but a significant negative relationship with secondary traumatic stress and burnout. Furthermore, the findings revealed that resilience partially moderating the relationship between vicarious trauma, emotion regulation and professional quality of life among nurses. The results obtained can be used by researchers to develop targeted interventions to manage professional quality of life. The study highlights the role of resilience in mitigating the influence of vicarious trauma, thereby improving the professional quality of life in nurses. The outcome may be used to increase awareness among nurses about the potential risks associated with vicarious trauma and lack of resilience.