NCT05394051

Psychological Well-being and Burnout in Healthcare Workers During the COVID-19 (Coronavirus Disease 2019) Pandemic

Completed NA Last updated 19 November 2024

What this trial tests

NA trial testing Positive Affect Regulation sKills (PARK) in COVID-19 in 555 participants. Completed in 31 May 2023.

Timeline

1 December 2021

Primary endpoint
31 May 2023

31 May 2023

Quick facts

Lead sponsor	Northwestern University
Phase	NA
Status	Completed
Study type	INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation	randomized
Design	single group
Masking	none
Primary purpose	treatment
Enrollment	555
Start date	1 December 2021
Primary completion	31 May 2023
Estimated completion	31 May 2023
Sites	1 location across United States

Drugs / interventions tested

• Positive Affect Regulation sKills (PARK)

Conditions studied

• COVID-19 — all drugs for COVID-19 →
• Burnout — all drugs for Burnout →
• Burnout, Professional — all drugs for Burnout, Professional →
• Work-related Illness — all drugs for Work-related Illness →

Sponsor

Northwestern University

Who can join

18 and older, any sex, with COVID-19 or Burnout. Patients with the condition only — healthy volunteers not accepted.

Sponsor's own description

Healthcare systems around the world have faced tremendous stress because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Healthcare workers (HCWs) (ie. physicians, nurses, and support staff), who serve as the foundation of the healthcare system, report high levels of psychological stress and burnout, which will likely worsen as the pandemic continues. The consequences of stress and burnout can reduce quality of life for providers and lead to adverse health behaviors (poor dietary choices, reduced physical activity, increased alcohol intake, increases in weight etc.) among HCWs. In addition, burnout can have dire consequences on healthcare delivery effectiveness including poor quality of care and significant cost implications due to medical errors and HCW absenteeism and turnover. In fact, annual estimates of burn-out related turnover range from $7,600 per physician to \>$16,000 per nurse. However, programs focused on reducing burnout in HCWs have the potential to reduce costs to the healthcare system by $5,000 per HCW per year. Maintaining and recovering psychological and behavioral well-being is essential to ensuring we have a workforce that is resilient to acute and ongoing stressors such as the COVID-19 pandemic, ensuring that they are capable of providing the highest level of quality and compassionate care to patients. In this project, we will strengthen the resiliency of the Northwestern Medicine (NM) healthcare system by implementing an online psychological well-being intervention (PARK). We will assess HCW willingness to engage in PARK, which has been shown in other populations experiencing stress (e.g. dementia caregivers, general public coping with COVID-19) to be effective. We will also assess if the PARK is effective in reducing stress and associated-burnout, absenteeism, and intentions to leave the workforce in a subset of 750 persons who have been participating in a study of HCWs at NM since Spring 2020. In the entire cohort, we will measure the psychological well-being, levels of burnout, health behaviors, absenteeism, and plans to leave the workforce at three time periods: the start, middle, and end of the study period and assess whether they differ by HCW characteristics including gender, race, and role in health care. Results from this study will provide much-needed information: 1) about the current state of psychological well-being and burnout among NM HCWs, now over 1 ½ years into the pandemic; 2) on the role of an online wellness intervention to improve well-being during a protracted pandemic; and 3) about the contribution of PARK to reduce burnout, HCW absenteeism and turnover, and potential impacts on costs. PARK has the potential to have a significant impact on not only NM HCWs but also to be generalizable to other healthcare organizations for addressing burnout and to contribute to lessons learned on how to support HCWs responding to future pandemics; ensuring resiliency in the healthcare delivery system. In addition, we will work with our already engaged stakeholder committee to ensure results can provide actionable policy and fiscal insights. Future opportunities will include collaboration with other healthcare systems to expand roll-out of the successful PARK intervention.

Publications & conference data

1 peer-reviewed publication reference this trial (live from Europe PMC):

1. Feasibility, acceptability, and efficacy of a positive emotion regulation intervention to promote resilience for healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic: A randomized controlled trial.
   Moskowitz JT, Jackson KL, Cummings P, Addington EL, et al · · 2024 · cited 4× · PMID 38913665 · DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0305172