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Compassion FatigueNCT06766682

Emotion Regulation Skill Program: Impact on Emotion Regulation, Experiential Avoidance & Compassion Fatigue

A study testing The Skill Development Program for Emotion Regulation in people with Compassion Fatigue and Experiential Avoidance, run by Hacettepe University at 1 site in Turkey (Türkiye).

Completed

Finished. The study has ended and is not enrolling. Results may be posted on the official record.

Official record
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Trial summary

In this study, the effects of the skills development program for regulating emotions applied to oncology nurses on oncology nurses' emotion regulation, experiential avoidance, and comorbidity fatigue will be examined. Read more about this study

Who is it for?
Any ageHealthy volunteers can take part
What is being tested?
The Skill Development Program for Emotion Regulation
Could I receive a placebo?
No, everyone receives an active treatment
How many people
66 participants
Where
1 siteTurkey (Türkiye)
Study dates
3 Mar 2025to 26 Sep 2025
Phase
Interventional
Are there results?
None posted in the registry

Key requirements

Who can take part, as listed by the sponsor. Only the study team can confirm whether you are eligible, so take this list to your doctor.

  • Ages Any age
  • All sexes
  • Healthy volunteers accepted
  • Child, Adult, Older adult

Who may be able to join

  • Volunteering to participate in the research
  • Working in the specified units for at least six months
  • Not having a disease or disability would make it difficult for them to understand the program and data collection tools and to apply the skills.

Who cannot join

  • Having received or currently receiving individual or group psychotherapy/counseling program within the last six months
  • Requesting to withdraw from the study at any stage of the research
  • Regularly missing two consecutive group sessions
  • Failure to attend three or more sessions in total

Trial locations and contacts

1 site in 1 country.

Turkey (Türkiye)1 site

  • Hacettepe University

    Ankara, Ankara, 06100

Other trials in Turkey (Türkiye)

About this study

Official title: The Effect of Skill Development Program for Emotion Regulation on Emotion Regulation, Experiential Avoidance and Compassion Fatigue of Oncology Nurses

In this study, the effects of the skills development program for regulating emotions applied to oncology nurses on oncology nurses' emotion regulation, experiential avoidance, and comorbidity fatigue will be examined. The research will be conducted as a randomized controlled experimental study with pretest-posttest and follow-up design.

Read the detailed description

Cancer has profound emotional, psychological, and behavioral impacts on patients and caregivers. Oncology nurses, while providing care, often experience feelings of helplessness, sadness, anxiety, and anger. Shift work-induced insomnia and irregular living patterns can impair emotional regulation, negatively affecting nurses' ability to provide holistic care, make effective decisions, and maintain professional interactions. Emotional recognition and management skills are critical for nurses engaged in long-term care processes. Emotional regulation involves identifying, understanding, and managing emotional responses, encompassing awareness, appropriate management, and expression. Ineffective emotional regulation may lead to difficulties in coping with emotional challenges and increase the risk of developing disorders such as depression and anxiety.

The literature highlights that emotional regulation strategies, which involve specific skills to modify emotional experiences, play a significant role in the development of various psychopathological disorders and affect mental health. Maladaptive strategies such as experiential avoidance-defined as avoiding situations or thoughts to escape distressing emotions-have been linked to increased risks of anxiety, depression, and burnout. Effective emotional regulation strategies are crucial for maintaining mental health and influencing behaviors. Increased experiential avoidance among healthcare workers has been associated with higher levels of burnout.

Empathy is a cornerstone of psychosocial care for patients and their families in oncology clinics. However, failure to regulate emotions during empathetic interactions can result in compassion fatigue, characterized by physical and emotional exhaustion, anger, disengagement, reduced job performance, and patient dissatisfaction. Effective emotional regulation supports the delivery of empathetic care and protects the psychosocial well-being of nurses. Emotional regulation enhances individuals' emotional awareness and enables more conscious and controlled management of emotions. This study aims to investigate the impact of an emotional regulation skills development program on oncology nurses' emotional regulation difficulties, experiential avoidance, and compassion fatigue in challenging work environments.

Being tested
The Skill Development Program for Emotion Regulation
Keywords
oncology nursing, difficulty in emotion regulation, emotion regulation skill, experiential avoidance, compassion fatigue
Medical subject headings
Compassion Fatigue, Emotional Regulation

What participants receive

What participants receive. In a randomised study each person is assigned to one group by chance.

  • The Skill Development Program for Emotion RegulationBehavioural

    The Skill Development Program for Emotion Regulation to be carried out with the intervention group was planned as 6 sessions. The aim of this study was to investigate The Skill Development Program for Emotion Regulation Program on oncology nurses' emotion regulation difficulties, emotion regulation skills, experiential avoidance, and compassion fatigue.

Study groups in NCT06766682
Study groupRoleWhat they receive
The Skill Development Program for Emotion RegulationExperimentalThe Skill Development Program for Emotion Regulation to be carried out with the intervention group consists of 6 sessions. The sessions are planned to be held in 3 groups of 11 people. The duration of a session is planned to be 90 minutes. Sessions will be completed in three weeks, twice a week. Sessions will be face-to-face. The session of the same group will be held on the same day and time every week.
Receives: Behavioral: The Skill Development Program for Emotion Regulation
Control GroupNo interventionAfter the follow-up tests were completed for the nurses in the control group, the 6-session skill program applied to the intervention group was planned to be applied in the same way within their wishes.

What is being measured

The primary outcome is the main question the study is designed to answer.

  1. Change in Difficulty in Emotion Regulation Scale-Short Form

    Difficulty in Emotion Regulation Scale-Short Form consists of 16 items and 5 sub-dimensions in 5-point Likert type (1=almost never, 5=almost always). It has five sub-dimensions: Clarity, Goals, Impulse, Strategies, and Non-Acceptance. A minimum score of 16 points and a maximum score of 80 points can be obtained from the scale and high scores obtained from the sub-dimensions and total score of the scale indicate that emotion regulation difficulties are high.

    Measured: [Time Frame: Baseline, 3th week, 3st month follow-up) (Pretest-posttest follow-up experimental design)

Secondary outcomes (1)

  1. Change in the Emotion Regulation Skills Scale

    The Emotion Regulation Skills Scale is a five-point Likert-type (1=almost never, 5=almost always) self-report instrument consisting of 27 items and nine subscales. The sub-dimensions are Awareness/attention, Body sensations, Clarity, Understanding, Acceptance, Tolerance, Preparation for confrontation, Self-support, and Modification. The minimum score that can be obtained from the scale is 27 and the maximum score is 135. The scale can be evaluated on the total score and the average of the sub-dimension scores

    Measured: [Time Frame: Baseline, 3th week, 3st month follow-up) (Pretest-posttest follow-up experimental design)

Timeline

From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.

  1. First posted9 Jan 2025
  2. Study start3 Mar 2025
  3. Primary completion27 Jun 2025
  4. Study completion26 Sep 2025

Resources

More details

For doctors and researchers: how the study is designed, who runs it, and its registry IDs.

Study design
Study type
Interventional
Phase
Phase N/A
Primary purpose
Prevention
Allocation
Randomised
Intervention model
Parallel groups
Masking
Single blind
Who is masked
Outcomes assessor
Enrolment
66 participants (actual)
IDs, dates and publications
ClinicalTrials.gov ID
NCT06766682
Sponsor's protocol ID
AYCAN KAYALAR
Status last verified
Jul 2026
First submitted
5 Jan 2025
Last updated
22 Jul 2026
Results posted
No
Data monitoring committee
No
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
Individual data sharing
No

Publications

  • Barnett MD, Hays KN, Cantu C. Compassion fatigue, emotional labor, and emotional display among hospice nurses. Death Stud. 2022;46(2):290-296. doi: 10.1080/07481187.2019.1699201. Epub 2019 Dec 9.

    PubMed 31814533

  • Figley, C. R. (2013). Compassion fatigue: Coping with secondary traumatic stress disorder in those who treat the traumatized. Routledge.

  • Guner P, Hicdurmaz D, Kocaman Yildirim N, Inci F. Psychosocial care from the perspective of nurses working in oncology: A qualitative study. Eur J Oncol Nurs. 2018 Jun;34:68-75. doi: 10.1016/j.ejon.2018.03.005. Epub 2018 Mar 16.

    PubMed 29784141

  • Lincoln, T. M., Schulze, L., & Renneberg, B. (2022). The role of emotion regulation in the characterization, development and treatment of psychopathology. Nature Reviews Psychology, 1(5), 272-286

  • Yiğit, İ. ve Guzey-Yiğit, M. (2019). Psychometric properties of Turkish version of difficulties in emotion regulation scale-brief form (DERS-16). Current Psychology, 38, 1503-1511. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-017-9712-7

  • Zheng RS, Guo QH, Dong FQ, Owens RG. Chinese oncology nurses' experience on caring for dying patients who are on their final days: a qualitative study. Int J Nurs Stud. 2015 Jan;52(1):288-96. doi: 10.1016/j.ijnurstu.2014.09.009. Epub 2014 Oct 5.

    PubMed 25445033

  • Lyu XC, Jiang HJ, Lee LH, Yang CI, Sun XY. Oncology nurses' experiences of providing emotional support for cancer patients: a qualitative study. BMC Nurs. 2024 Jan 20;23(1):58. doi: 10.1186/s12912-024-01718-1.

    PubMed 38245735

  • Kostka AM, Borodzicz A, Krzeminska SA. Feelings and Emotions of Nurses Related to Dying and Death of Patients - A Pilot Study. Psychol Res Behav Manag. 2021 Jun 4;14:705-717. doi: 10.2147/PRBM.S311996. eCollection 2021.

    PubMed 34113186

  • Cotter P, Holden A, Johnson C, Noakes S, Urch C, King A. Coping With the Emotional Impact of Working in Cancer Care: The Importance of Team Working and Collective Processing. Front Psychol. 2022 Jul 15;13:877938. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.877938. eCollection 2022.

    PubMed 35911049

Questions about this trial

What is this clinical trial studying?

A study testing The Skill Development Program for Emotion Regulation in people with Compassion Fatigue and Experiential Avoidance, run by Hacettepe University at 1 site in Turkey (Türkiye).

The full registered description is in the About this study section and the official record.

Who may be eligible to take part?

The sponsor lists 3 inclusion and 4 exclusion criteria. Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening, so read the full criteria and contact a listed site.

Is this clinical trial currently recruiting?

The record says: finished, as of the sponsor's last update on 22 Jul 2026. Status can change between updates, so confirm with the study contact before making plans.

Where is the study taking place?

The record lists 1 site in Turkey (Türkiye). Whether a site is taking part right now should be confirmed with that site. See every site.

What are the possible benefits and risks?

They depend on the study and the treatment, and no study can promise a benefit. The study team explains the known risks during informed consent, before anyone joins; the record itself does not list them.

Are results available for this study?

The study is completed, but results are not available in the source record. That does not mean the treatment did or did not work.

How can a doctor refer a patient or contact the research team?

The record lists no contact. The official record names the sponsor, who can be asked directly. AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals.

What does the primary outcome measure?

Change in Difficulty in Emotion Regulation Scale-Short Form (time frame: [Time Frame: Baseline, 3th week, 3st month follow-up) (Pretest-posttest follow-up experimental design)). It is what the study was designed to measure, not a finding.

Where can I read the original study information?

On the ClinicalTrials.gov record for NCT06766682, which also lists 9 linked publications.

Does a listing mean the treatment is approved or proven to work?

No. A listing means the study is registered. It does not show that the treatment is safe, works, or is approved by a regulator.

How often is this information updated?

AzTrials copies changed records from ClinicalTrials.gov every night and reloads the whole registry every week. The sponsor last updated this record on 22 Jul 2026.

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