Compassion in Mental Health Nursing: A Scoping Review

Abstract

Compassion is widely recognised as a core component of mental health nursing, yet its meaning and application within this specialty remain underexplored. This scoping review examined how compassion is conceptualised, experienced, and enacted in mental health nursing practice, and the extent to which this aligns with existing models of compassion. A systematic search of CINAHL, Scopus, and PsycINFO identified peer-reviewed articles published in English between 2016 and 2026. Studies were included if compassion was a central focus and excluded if related to children’s services, student nurses, or general nursing contexts. Nine studies were included; seven qualitative and two quantitative designs. Findings indicate that compassion in mental health nursing is a relational and context-dependent process, broadly consistent with established models. It is shaped by the demands of psychiatric care, including risk management, institutional constraints, and emotional labour. Compassion was closely associated with patient safety, engagement, and patient-reported outcomes, with patients identifying feeling safe, believed, and treated with dignity as key indicators of compassionate care. Compassion can therefore be understood as both a relational and clinically significant practice underpinning safe, effective, and recovery-oriented mental health care. Further mental health–specific quantitative research is needed to support measurement and implementation in practice.