Objective To explore the mediating effect of perceived head nurse′s caring on the relationship between compassion fatigue and caring behavior towards patients in psychiatric nurses and to provide a reference for promoting humanistic care.Methods A total of 360 psychiatric nurses were selected from 7 psychiatric hospitals in Nantong and were investigated by using the general data questionnaire, the Chinese version of the Caring Behaviors Inventory, the Professional Quality of Life Scale, and the Caring Factor Survey-Caring of Manager.Results The sample scored （114.92±19.94） in caring behaviors, （53.32±11.87） in caring of mana-ger, and （41.79±11.78） in compassion fatigue.Perceived caring of manager played a partial mediating role in the association between compassion fatigue and caring behavior, accounting for 35.01% of the total effect.Conclusion The psychiatric nurses′ caring behavior is at a moderate level.Nursing managers can alleviate compassion fatigue of psychiatric nurses by strengthening head nurses′ caring for the nurses, thus to promote the implementation of caring behavior towards patients.