The Effect of Motivational Messages on Emergency Nurses

The Effects of Motivational Messages Sent to Emergency Nurses During the COVID-19 Pandemic on Job Satisfaction, Compassion Fatigue, and Communication Skills: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Aim and objectives: The aim of this study is to examine the effect of motivational notifications applied to emergency nurses on job satisfaction, compassion fatigue and communication skills during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Background: Emergency room nurses working on the front lines during the COVID-19 pandemic; many factors such as excessive workload, prolonged working hours, threat of infection, death of the patients they care for have caused them to experience physical, social and psychological problems.

Design: It is a randomized controlled, open-label study. Methods: This study was carried out with a total of 60 nurses working in the emergency units of two training and research hospitals in Istanbul. Participants were divided into motivational group and control group. Motivational notifications were sent via Short Message Service (SMS) to the mobile phones of the participants in the motivational group (n=30) for 21 days. No motivational notification was sent to the control group (n=30) during this process. Data were obtained with the Individual Introduction Form, Job Satisfaction, Compassion Fatigue and Communication Skills Scale.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Compassion Fatigue; Satisfaction; Communication, Social
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: Motivation

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 65
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Turkey
  • Beylikdüzü
    • Istanbul, Beylikdüzü, Turkey
      • Hilal KARTAL

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years to 50 years (Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:The nurses working in the emergency room, working only in the day shift on weekdays, using mobile phones and volunteering to participate in the study were included in the study.

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Exclusion Criteria: Exclusion criteria for the study included being on leave for any reason (maternity, annual, medical) during the study dates, not completely filling in the data collection forms, or withdrawing from the study.

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Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Prevention
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Motivation; Motivational notifications were sent to the nurses in the motivational group (n=30) via SMS messages to their mobile phones at 07.00, 12.00 and 16.00 for 21 days. Like a good morning message that allows you to start the day with a beautiful energy (Example: Thank you for the hard and selfless work you do every day. We love and appreciate angels like you and you. Good morning). Motivational notifications sent to the participants were prepared each day to be different from the previous day. Data were obtained with the Individual Introduction Form, Job Satisfaction, Compassion Fatigue and Communication Skills Scale.	Other: Motivation; Motivational notifications were sent via SMS message to the nurses in the motivation group (n=30) at 07.00, 12.00 and 16.00 for 21 days.
No Intervention: Control; Motivational notifications were not sent to the nurses in the control group (n=30) and they continued their routine work in the emergency room. only pretest and posttest were applied. Data were obtained with the Individual Introduction Form, Job Satisfaction, Compassion Fatigue and Communication Skills Scale.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Job Satisfaction-Short Scale	Job satisfaction scale is in a 5-point Likert type and is graded as (1- Absolutely disagree and 5-Absolutely agree). Scoring of the scale is calculated as a minimum of 1 and a maximum of 5 points, and the average of 5 related items is taken. The lowest score that can be obtained from the scale is 5 and the highest score is 25. Accordingly, the decrease in the average score of the participants indicates that job satisfaction decreases; an increase in the average score indicates an increase in job satisfaction.	Baseline and after 3 weeks
Compassion Fatigue-Short Scale	The scale aims to measure secondary trauma and occupational burnout. Items are rated on a 10-point Likert-type scale ranging from rarely/never (1) to very often (10). The total possible score ranges from 13 to 130, with higher scores representing a higher level of compassion fatigue.	Baseline and after 3 weeks
Communication Skills Scale	This scale was developed to determine how people evaluate their own communication skills. It consists of 25 items on a 5-point Likert-type scale ranging from always (1) to never (5). The scale yields a score ranging from 25 to 125. High scores reflect a positive perception of the person's communication skills.	Baseline and after 3 weeks

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Compassion Fatigue-Short Scale	Rarely/never (1) and often (10) is a 10-point Likert type, with the smallest 13 and the highest 130 points. As the scores obtained from the scale increase, the level of compassion fatigue experienced by individuals increases.	Three weeks
Communication Skills Scale	The scale is a 5-point Likert-type scale, graded from "always" to "never". The scale consists of a total of 25 expressions and the highest score that can be obtained is 125 and the lowest score is 25. High scores reflect that individuals evaluate their communication skills positively.	Three weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Istanbul Saglik Bilimleri University

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): August 2, 2021
• Primary Completion (Actual): August 30, 2021
• Study Completion (Actual): August 31, 2021

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: November 15, 2021
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: December 2, 2021
• First Posted (Actual): December 15, 2021

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): March 25, 2025
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: February 1, 2025
• Last Verified: February 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Occupational Stress; Behavioral Symptoms; Stress, Psychological; Mental Fatigue; Compassion Fatigue; Fatigue
• Other Study ID Numbers: SBU-HAMIDIYE-KARTAL-00001-2021

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No