Positive emotional skills combat burnout among healthcare workers

The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the already rising rate of burnout among U.S. healthcare workers. A new study from Northwestern University found that learning and practicing skills that increase positive emotions, such as gratitude, mindful awareness and self-compassion, helped improve caregivers’ well-being and reduce stress and anxiety.

The study was published Arrived on June 24th PLOS ONE.

“Even before COVID-19, healthcare workers were significantly challenged by the stresses of the job, and any tools we can give them to reduce that stress even a little bit are a win,” said corresponding author Judith Moskowitz, lead intervention science. in the Department of Medical Social Sciences at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.

But like any intervention — diet, exercise, addiction recovery, etc. — these skills only work if you practice them, Moskowitz said.

The study enrolled 554 healthcare workers to participate in a five-week, online, self-guided intervention that focuses on positive emotions. The intervention designed by Moskowitz and colleagues included eight skills proven to improve well-being. They include noticing and enjoying positive events, gratitude, mindful awareness, positive reappraisal, personal strengths, achievable goals, and self-compassion.

More than half (52.8%) of participants who signed up to learn the positive emotional skills never logged in to complete any of the lessons. Those who completed all five weekly skills lessons of the intervention (9% of the sample) improved significantly more in positive emotions compared to those who did not use the intervention.

“Limitations in the U.S. health care system can make it very difficult for individuals to take the time for self-care, and that’s a big problem,” Moskowitz said. “While system and organizational changes in healthcare are critical to addressing the causes of burnout, healthcare providers also need individual-level tools that are easily accessible to help them cope with the stress of the job. “

Unlike previous studies of stress-reducing interventions among healthcare workers, which limited samples to only nurses or doctors, this new study included healthcare workers from a wider variety of roles – including administrative and other – and showed that the impact of the intervention was had a decent effect. do not differ per role.

Future studies will focus on increasing engagement and accessibility

When asked why they did not complete the intervention, participants pointed to logistical issues (i.e., not receiving the initial email to log into the platform or not remembering to participate in the study). One participant said, “I completely forgot I signed up and ignored the emails due to my busy schedule. I wish I had made more time to participate as I intended. I would have loved to see if it worked .”

Others found the daily reminders to practice the skills too demanding and said that once they missed a few lessons, “it seemed impossible to catch up and I lost interest, but I would love the opportunity to participate again.” take now that I understand the time requirement.”

Moskowitz said future studies teaching this intervention could restructure the skills delivery by including an introductory session that summarizes all eight skills at the beginning so that participants know what to expect during the five-week program.

“We’d say, ‘Here are some things you can try that have been shown to improve the well-being of people experiencing all kinds of life stress. We’d like you to try them all, because you don’t always know which ones will work for you until you try them out. Once you know which ones to use, make it a habit to practice those skills,” Moskowitz said.

Feedback also reflected a discrepancy between individually targeted interventions used to address factors at the US healthcare system level that cause burnout, such as understaffing, limited childcare options, workday breaks, etc. One participant said: “An online module just became something extra for me to do on top of the billions of other tasks I had to do.”

Moskowitz said the intervention is likely to be successful in reducing burnout if it is implemented in parallel with policy changes at the health care system level. That’s why, she said, leaders within the U.S. health care system should adopt Surgeon General Dr.’s Framework for Mental Health and Well-Being in the Workplace. Vivek Murthy should follow.

It outlines five essentials for strengthening mental health and wellbeing in the workplace, and helps organizations develop, institutionalize and update policies, processes and practices that best support the mental health and wellbeing of all employees.

The importance of combating burnout in healthcare

Moskowitz studied the health and well-being effects of this positive emotion regulation intervention in a number of samples experiencing a range of life stresses, including people recently diagnosed with HIV, dementia caregivers, patients diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer, and people experiencing the COVID -19 crisis. -19 pandemic.

In this study, burnout was measured using the 16-item Oldenburg Burnout Inventory, which assesses two dimensions of burnout: exhaustion and withdrawal from work.

Burnout is strongly correlated with depression and anxiety, as well as a host of negative physical health consequences, including poor sleep, risky health behaviors (e.g., decreased physical activity, increased substance use), and physical health problems such as headaches and gastrointestinal disorders.

Burnout among healthcare providers is particularly associated with reduced effectiveness in healthcare and increased risk to patient well-being and medical errors. Other well-being measures of positive affect, meaning and purpose, anxiety, depression, and social isolation were measured using the Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) [48–50] computer adaptive testing.