The mediating role of compassionate love in the relationship between professional values and moral sensitivity

Background Compassionate love is an altruistic orientation encompassing care, compassion, empathy, and a desire to help others, making it deeply intertwined with the nature of nursing care. Although there is a substantial body of literature on nursing students’ professional values and moral sensitivity, the role of compassionate love within the relationship between these two constructs remains unexplored. Aim This study was conducted to investigate the relationship among professional values, compassionate love, and moral sensitivity among nursing students and to analyze the mediating role of compassionate love in this relationship. Research design A cross-sectional and correlational study. Participants and research context Data were collected between January and May 2025 via an online survey administered to 309 undergraduate nursing students across two public universities located in the central region of Türkiye. Data analysis included descriptive statistics, Pearson correlations, and mediation modeling using the PROCESS macro. Ethical considerations The study was approved by the university’s ethics committee (Date: 31.12.2024, Approval No: E-77082166-604.01-1130110). Electronic informed consent was obtained from all participants before data collection. Findings Students demonstrated moderate levels of compassionate love and moral sensitivity. A significant positive relationship was found between professional values and moral sensitivity. Regression-based mediation analysis indicated that professional values were significantly associated with compassionate love, which in turn had a positive indirect association with moral sensitivity. Furthermore, compassionate love significantly mediated the relationship between professional values and moral sensitivity. Conclusions In nursing education, it is crucial to recognize that compassionate love acts as a necessary catalyst, transforming professional values into actual moral sensitivity. Therefore, nursing curricula should actively integrate compassionate love alongside professional values to effectively foster students’ moral sensitivity.