title: Empathy, Burnout, Demographic Variables and their Relationships in Oncology Nurses.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Development of nurse-patient empathic communication in the oncology ward is of great importance for the patients to relieve their psychological stress, however, nursing care of cancer patients is accompanied with high stress and burnout. The present study aimed to define the level of empathy and its association with burnout and some demographic characteristics of oncology nurses.
  
  
  METHODS
  This descriptive/correlation study was conducted in a professional cancer treatment center in Isfahan. Through census sampling, 67 oncology nurses were selected. The data collection tools were Jefferson Scale of Nursing Empathy, Maslach Burnout Inventory, and demographic characteristics questionnaire.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Mean nurses' empathy and overall burnout scores were 62.28 out of 100 and 38.8 out of 100, respectively. Score of empathy showed an inverse correlation with overall burnout score (r= -0.189,P= 0.04), depersonalization (r= -0.218,P= 0.02), and personal accomplishment (r= -0.265,P= 0.01). Multiple regression test was used to detect which dimension of burnout was a better predictor for the reduction of empathy score. Results showed that the best predictors were lack of personal accomplishment (P= 0.02), depersonalization (P= 0.04), and emotional exhaustion (P= 0.14), respectively. The most influential demographic factor on empathy was work experience (r= 0.304,P= 0.004). One-way analysis of variance showed that official staff had a higher empathy score (f= 2.39,P= 0.045) and their burnout was lower (f= 2.56,P= 0.04).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Results showed a negative relationship between empathy and burnout in oncology nurses. Therefore, nursing support from managers to reduce burnout increases empathic behavior of nurses.
authors.affiliation: Nursing and Midwifery Care Research Center, Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran.
authors.forename: Fariba
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Taleghani
authors.affiliation: Students Research Center, Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran.
authors.forename: Elaheh
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ashouri
authors.affiliation: Department of Nursing, Cancer Hospital, University of Medical Science, Isfahan, Iran.
authors.forename: Morteza
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Saburi
keywords: Burnout; Iran; cancer; empathy; nurses; oncology nursing; patient–nurse relationship