Introduction:

The nursing resident is exposed to stressful situations that impact the quality of their professional life. Integrative and complementary health practices can contribute to promoting physical, mental, and spiritual well-being.

Objective:

To evaluate the effect of flower essence therapy on the aspects of the professional quality of life (compassion fatigue - burnout and secondary traumatic stress - and compassion satisfaction) of nursing residents in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods:

Quasi-experimental pilot before and after study with 16 resident nurses from teaching hospitals, who answered a sociodemographic questionnaire and the Professional Quality of Life Scale 4 (ProQOL-4). The emergency formula associated with Walnut of the Bach Flower Remedies (FiveW) was used for three weeks with a three-week follow-up. Data were analyzed descriptively. The effect of the intervention was evaluated by the paired Student's t-test and by the mixed effects model, with a significance level of 5%.

Results:

Floral therapy reduced the score of the Secondary Traumatic Stress subscale of ProQOL-4 (p=0.017) with a residual effect after the follow-up. There was interaction between the year of residency and the program specialty in the Satisfaction for Compassion and Burnout subscales; and also between the program specialty and the COVID-19 infection of a close person in the Secondary Traumatic Stress and Burnout subscales (p<0.05).

Conclusion:

The FiveW floral formula showed a reduction in Secondary Traumatic Stress scores, evidencing that floral therapy can contribute as a complementary strategy to improve the quality of professional life.