Abstract
BACKGROUND: The quality of nurses' professional life is at stake in crises such as COVID-19. Empowerment helps employees perform better and advance the goals of the organization. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between empowerment and the quality of nurses' professional life during the outbreak of COVID-19. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The current cross-sectional study was conducted in 2021 in the hospitals of Babol University of Medical Sciences with the participation of 200 nurses providing care for COVID-19 patients who were included in the study by convenience sampling method. Data collection tools included the Empowerment Questionnaire (Leader Empowerment Behaviors Scale, Structural Empowerment, and Psychological Empowerment) and the Professional Quality of Life Questionnaire. SPSS software version 23 was used to analyze the data. Multiple linear regressions were used to investigate the relationship between empowerment and quality of professional life. RESULTS: In the majority of nurses, compassion satisfaction 140 (70%), burnout 172 (86%), and compassion fatigue 126 (63%) were at moderate level. A significant relationship was found between compassion satisfaction and Leader Empowerment (R = 0.54, P =. 001), Psychological Empowerment (R = 0.55, P =. 001), and Structural Empowerment (R = 0.42, P =. 001) and Compassion Fatigue and Leader Empowerment (R = 0.35, P =. 001), psychological empowerment (R = 0.42, P =. 001), and structural empowerment (R = 0.49, P =. 001). CONCLUSION: Nursing managers' attention to empowerment strategies in crises such as COVID-19 can improve compassion satisfaction and reduce compassion fatigue in nurses. It is also necessary to implement policies and guidelines for the development of psychosocial support to health promotion of the workplace, education, informing, and empowering nurses.