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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Public Health
Sec. Occupational Health and Safety
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1530584
This article is part of the Research TopicPatient and Medical Staff Safety and Healthy Work Environment in the 21st CenturyView all 35 articles
The relationship between implicit absenteeism and grit and compassion fatigue in female neonatal nurses
Provisionally accepted- 1Department of Neonatology, West China Second University Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China
- 2Key Laboratory of Birth Defects and Related Diseases of Women and Children, West China Second University Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China
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Introduction: Implicit absenteeism is a growing concern among nurses, as it may reduce nursing productivity and affect the quality of nursing services and patients' health. This study aimed to investigate the status and influencing factors of implicit absenteeism among female nurses in neonatal units and to explore the correlations between compassion fatigue, grit, and implicit absenteeism.Method: An anonymous online questionnaire was administered to female nurses in a neonatal unit from August to October 2024 using the General Information Questionnaire, Stanford Implicit Absenteeism Scale, Compassion Fatigue Short Scale, and self-reported short Grit Scale (Grit-S). Results: In total, 269 female neonatal unit nurses were included in our study. The implicit absenteeism score of female neonatal nurses was (14.41 ± 4.08). Age, education, and years of work experience were the main factors influencing implicit absenteeism among female nurses in the neonatal unit (all P < 0.05). In addition, implicit absenteeism was positively correlated with compassion fatigue (r = 0.672, P < 0.01) and grit (r = 0.420, P < 0.01). Additionally, compassion fatigue was positively correlated with grit (r = 0.559, P < 0.01).Conclusion: Female nurses in neonatal units have high rates of implicit absenteeism. Clinical managers should pay particular attention to the implicit absenteeism and physical and mental health of female nurses with bachelor's degrees or above, those over 30 years of age, and those with more than 10 years of work experience. Simultaneously, governments and healthcare organizations need to develop interventions to promote the physical and mental health of nurses, reduce implicit absenteeism, and further contribute to the stable development of the nursing workforce.
Keywords: Implicit absenteeism, Influencing factors, compassion fatigue, grit, neonatal, Nurses
Received: 19 Nov 2024; Accepted: 14 Apr 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Chen, Li, Hou, Yang and Shi. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Xiaowen Li, Department of Neonatology, West China Second University Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, 610041, Sichuan Province, China
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.