Publication date: Oct 15, 2024
Since the outbreak of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), front-line nurses have faced not only daily work stress but also a high risk of infection and excessive workload, leading to unsatisfactory professional quality of life (ProQOL). This study aimed to explore whether self-compassion (SC) and benefit finding (BF) play a chain mediating role between work stress and ProQOL among Chinese nurses during the COVID-19 pandemic. From March to April 2022, a sample of 13,936 Chinese nurses was recruited through snowball sampling. Demographic information, work stress, SC, BF, and ProQOL were assessed. The SPSS 25. 0 software and Amos 24. 0 software were used for statistical analysis. The bootstrap method was employed to construct and examine the chain mediating structural equation model. The ProQOL level of Chinese nurses during the COVID-19 pandemic was moderate. The overall fit indices for the compassion satisfaction (CS), burnout (BO), and secondary traumatic stress (STS) models were satisfactory (χ^2/df = 2. 486, 3. 256, 2. 553, RMSEA = 0. 011, 0. 014, 0. 011, the GFI, AGFI, NFI, and CFI values were all above 0. 90). Work stress had direct effects on CS, BO, and STS (β=-0. 171, 0. 334, 0. 222, P