The dual roles of empathy in mediating structural empowerment and compassion fatigue among Chinese nurses

The study illuminates the dual role of empathy within the framework of structural empowerment and its impact on compassion fatigue. Cognitive empathy serves as a protective factor, reducing susceptibility to compassion fatigue, while affective empathy appears to heighten vulnerability. These findings provide direct evidence supporting the dual processing pathways of empathy. It is recommended that healthcare policies integrate organizational support with targeted empathy training, such as cognitive reappraisal, emotion regulation, and peer support, to effectively counteract compassion fatigue among nurses. However, due to the cross-sectional nature and the single-hospital setting, the findings should be interpreted cautiously.