Can everything about self compassion be reduced to a 2 minute TikTok video?
Of course not.
Perhaps the key questions of what, why, how and who can be introduced though.
Let’s give that a try.
The “what” is the definition of self compassion, described here as “being empathetic and understanding towards oneself, as you might to a close friend in times of suffering”
That seems sensible. Let’s do that.
Why?
Because health professionals are more at risk of anxiety, depression and suicide than people in other jobs.
This chart is of Australian suicide data for the first 11 years of this century.
Male doctors suicide at the same rate as males in other occupations.
Female doctors suicide at twice the rate as females in other occupations.
Nurses and Midwives who are male have a suicide rate that is 50% higher than it is for males in other occupations.
Female nurses and midwives suicide at three times the rate of females in other occupations.
I’m not sure why these numbers are the way they are. Some of it would because of the nature of our work. I think some of it may be because of our collective psychopathology.
Do people who care for others prioritise their self compassion enough?
How do care for ourselves while we’re caring for others?
Here’s one idea: make every time you wash your hands a mindful moment for yourself too.
Use that 30 seconds or so as an opportunity to intentionally slow your breathing, calm your thoughts, to wash away some of the tension and stress, and to rub-in some good vibes.
Last, but not least, who can nurses and midwives reach-out to if they need a hand?
Hopefully you have, family, friends and workmates who can support you, but it’s good to know that you also have a 24/7 avenue to support on hand.
Nurse & Midwife Support is for all Australian nurses and midwives, including students and AINs. Check out the website and save the number in your phone in case you or a colleagues needs it one day.
That’s it.
Thanks for watching this ridiculously short intro to self compassion.
There is elaboration, links to data and resources, and a longer version of this video available via the QR code and meta4RN.com/grow website.
(in case the TikTok version at the top of the page doesn’t work, here it is on ye olde YouTube)
Here’s a link to the Prezi used to make the visuals. Video recorded at home in the bathroom, then edited and uploaded from an iPad (in the loungeroom).
End
Is there anything sadder than a middle aged man on TikTok?
No. There is not.
Paul McNamara, 19 July 2022
Short URL meta4RN.com/TikTokTry – TikTok try-hard, more like it 🙂
Self Compassion is defined as “…being empathetic and understanding towards oneself, as you might to a close friend in times of suffering” (Aggar et al, 2022).
I’m using self compassion as a nuanced but important update to previous presentations and blog posts on the theme of self care. Why? Because self-compassion is a better fit for nurses, I reckon. As Mills, Wand & Fraser (2015) say, “…it could be argued that nursing care is synonymous with compassion.” That’s most-often compassion for others, not always each-other or our selves.
The way I see it, self care is about the tasks and strategies we use to avoid burnout. Self compassion is more of an attitude or mindset that goes beyond burnout prevention, and shifts towards making sure that we are as kind and nurturing to ourselves as we’re expected to be to our patients.
In this iteration of an annually updated presentation aimed mostly, but not exclusively, at new Graduate Registered Nurses I want to put emphasis on self compassion as a valid and sensible priority. We don’t want new grads to just survive their first year, we want them to learn, enjoy their work, and grow.
Part 2: Prezi
It’s handy to have a way where you can quickly and easily find and share presentations. PowerPoint presentations are so last century. The face-to-face presentation uses this Prezi: prezi.com/view/wsTTDmVzAJOSRpqDXs2I/
This must be the 6th or 7th iteration of a theme I’ve been banging-on about for over a decade, so I’m recycling and repurposing a lot of old ideas here. Because of that iterative process the list below is ridiculously and embarrassingly self-referential. Please don’t think of it as self-plagiarism. Think of it as a fresh new remix of a favourite old song. 🙂
Aggar, C., Samios, C., Penman, O., Whiteing, N., Massey, D., Rafferty, R., Bowen, K. & Stephens, A. (2022), The impact of COVID-19 pandemic-related stress experienced by Australian nurses. International Journal of Mental Health Nursing, 31(1). https://doi.org/10.1111/inm.12938
Australian College of Mental Health Nurses [www.acmhn.org], Australian College of Nursing [www.acn.edu.au], and Australian College of Midwives [www.midwives.org.au] (2019) Joint Position Statement: Clinical Supervision for Nurses + Midwives. Released online April 2019, PDF available via each organisation’s website, and here: ClinicalSupervisionJointPositionStatement
Chen, R., Sun, C., Chen, J.‐J., Jen, H.‐J., Kang, X.L., Kao, C.‐C. & Chou, K.‐R. (2020), A Large‐Scale Survey on Trauma, Burnout, and Posttraumatic Growth among Nurses during the COVID‐19 Pandemic. International Journal of Mental Health Nursing. doi.org/10.1111/inm.12796
Doctors Health in Queensland for doctors and medical students dhq.org.au
DRS4DRS provides support for any doctor or medical student across Australia www.drs4drs.com.au
Eales, Sandra. (2018). A focus on psychological safety helps teams thrive. InScope, No. 08., Summer 2018 edition, published by Queensland Nurses and Midwives Union on 13/12/18, pages 58-59. Eales2018
Emotional Aftershocks (the story of Fire Extinguisher Guy & Nursing Ring Theory) meta4RN.com/aftershocks
Lalochezia (getting sweary doesn’t necessarily mean getting abusive) meta4RN.com/lalochezia
Miller, Ian. (circa 2013) Nursing ring theory: Care goes in. Crap goes out. impactEDnurse [blog]. Archived blog post accessed via Wayback Machine: web.archive.org/www.impactednurse.com/?p=5755
Mills, J., Wand, T. & Fraser, J. (2015) On self-compassion and self-care in nursing: selfish or essential for compassionate care? International Journal of Nursing Studies. 52(4). doi: 10.1016/j.ijnurstu.2014.10.009.
Nurse & Midwife Support nmsupport.org.au phone 1800 667 877 targeted 24/7 confidential support available for nurse, midwives, AINs and students
Nurses, Midwives, Medical Practitioners, Suicide and Stigma (re the alarming toll of those who undertake emotional labour) meta4RN.com/stigma
Nurturing the Nurturers (the Pit Head Baths and clinical supervision stories) meta4RN.com/nurturers
Queensland Health. (2009). Clinical Supervision Guidelines for Mental Health Services. PDF
Self Compassion and Post Traumatic Growth amongst Nurses in the Pandemic (Hooray for Grey Hairs!) meta4RN.com/grey
Spector, P., Zhiqing, Z. & Che, X. (2014) Nurse exposure to physical and nonphysical violence, bullying, and sexual harassment: A quantitative review. International Journal of Nursing Studies. Vol 50(1), pp 72-84. www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0020748913000357
Surfing the Omicron Wave (Cairns Hospital COVID-19 admission data, 14th December 2021 – 20th February 2022) meta4RN.com/surfing
At time of writing it looks like we are going to have another uptick in COVID-19 presentations (see above). Bugger. I won’t pretend to know how that will affect our local hospital and/or face-to-face and group learning. It will be handy to have a YouTube version of the otherwise interactive face-to-face presentation on hand just in case we revert to crisis-response mode like we did in January/February 2022 [more info about that here and here].
Part 5: End Notes
Thanks for visiting.
As always, feedback is welcomed via the comments section below.
You may have seen that COVID-19 related content from the International Journal of Mental Health Nursing has been collated on one page, and is free to read. If not, sus it out here: IJMHN COVID-19
The findings that jumped-out at me from the paper were that more experienced* nurses reported more self-compassion. Greater self-compassion resulted in: – a reduction in pandemic-related stress – less symptoms of depression and/or anxiety – greater post-traumatic growth.
That’s great, right?
The findings from the Australian survey are similar to a large-scale China survey in that post-traumatic stress for nurses during COVID-19 is offset by post-traumatic growth. Understandably, the numbers in the Australian study are less pronounced than they were in the Chinese study, reflecting the difference in the two country’s experience of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Chen, R., Sun, C., Chen, J.‐J., Jen, H.‐J., Kang, X.L., Kao, C.‐C. & Chou, K.‐R. (2020), A Large‐Scale Survey on Trauma, Burnout, and Posttraumatic Growth among Nurses during the COVID‐19 Pandemic. International Journal of Mental Health Nursing.
So What?
If, like me, you’re an experienced * nurse, celebrate and share your self-compassion super-power and with other nurses. This, together with the possibility that the pandemic may cause professional/personal growth to offset the stress, is very encouraging.
If you’re new-ish to nursing, be very deliberate about building-in self-compassion to your work.
People who are attracted to nursing are usually empathetic towards the needs of others. That’s great, of course, but the downside for empaths is that sometimes we put the needs of others before our needs.
That’s the pathway to burnout, my friend.
It is sensible to be intentional about self-compassion, ie: the art of being kind to yourself, and finding a workable, realistic balance between your life experiences, thoughts and feelings. Self-compassion will not dilute your empathy. It will allow you to continue in your empathetic work better for longer.
How do you go about self-compassion? Maybe finding yourself the right mentor(s). Maybe just everyday stress management stuff. Maybe getting some clinical supervision. Maybe phoning Nurse & Midwife Support. Maybe you should stop reading dumb nursing blogs, and go outside and do something fun instead. 🙂 Maybe a bit of each of the above.
NB*
*“experienced” is probably code word for “those with grey hairs”
References
Aggar, C., Samios, C., Penman, O., Whiteing, N., Massey, D., Rafferty, R., Bowen, K. & Stephens, A. (2021), The impact of COVID-19 pandemic-related stress experienced by Australian nurses. International Journal of Mental Health Nursing, https://doi.org/10.1111/inm.12938
Chen, R., Sun, C., Chen, J.‐J., Jen, H.‐J., Kang, X.L., Kao, C.‐C. & Chou, K.‐R. (2020), A Large‐Scale Survey on Trauma, Burnout, and Posttraumatic Growth among Nurses during the COVID‐19 Pandemic. International Journal of Mental Health Nursing. doi.org/10.1111/inm.12796
Declaration of Interests
In the interests of transparency, there are three declarations to be made re this blog post: 1. I am the Social Media Editor of the International Journal of Mental Health Nursing. 2. I have a bias towards promoting nurse mental wellbeing, including my own. 3. What little hair I have left is very very grey.
End
That’s it. If you haven’t gone out to do something fun already, maybe stay where you are and sus-out the the Aggar et al article here, and have a browse through the other IJMHN COVID-19 papers here.
Thanks for reading. As always, your feedback is welcome via the comments section below.
meta4RN 