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Completed

NCT Number: NCT07135518

Improving Social Climate in Secure Settings With a Compassion Focused Staff Intervention

This study evaluates the effectiveness of a Compassion Focused Staff Support (CFSS) intervention in improving the social climate of correctional and forensic psychiatric institutions. The intervention is based on Compassion Focused Therapy and designed to support staff in managing stress, enhancing affect regulation, and strengthening compassion toward self and others. Three institutional units are included in the study. One unit is randomly selected to receive the full CFSS intervention, including a half-day introductory workshop and monthly staff support sessions over six months. A second unit serves as a control group and receives no intervention. A third unit receives only the initial workshop without follow-up sessions. The effect of the intervention is evaluated using a pre-test/post-test design. Outcomes include changes in staff-reported and client-reported social climate, assessed with validated questionnaires, as well as institutional data on critical incidents. The study aims to improve working conditions in secure settings and foster more compassionate, effective staff-client interactions.

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Key information

Conditions

Social Climate Compassion Critical Incident Staff Support Workplace Wellbeing

Age range

18 year and older

Sex eligibility

All sexes

Study type

Interventional

Phase

Not applicable

Primary location

University Psychiatric Clinics Basel

Basel, 4002, Switzerland

Who can participate

Healthy volunteers accepted: Yes

Only the study team can determine whether someone qualifies for participation.

Inclusion criteria

Staff Participants:

  • Employed at one of the participating correctional or forensic psychiatric units
  • Aged 18 years or older
  • Willing to provide informed consent

Client Participants:

  • Residing in one of the participating correctional or forensic psychiatric units at the time of data collection.
  • Aged 18 years or older.
  • Capable of providing informed consent

Exclusion criteria

Staff Participants:

  • None (all eligible staff are invited to participate)

Client Participants:

  • Not capable of providing informed consent (e.g., due to acute psychiatric crisis or cognitive impairment).
  • Not deemed competent to participate by treatment team.

Treatment and study plan

Compassion Focused Staff Support

Behavioral

The Compassion Focused Staff Support (CFSS) intervention is designed to promote emotional resilience, compassion, and affect regulation. The intervention begins with a half-day introductory workshop covering the evolution-informed model of emotion regulation, the three-affect system framework, social mentalities, and the nature of compassion. This workshop provides psychoeducation and experiential exercises to introduce key concepts. Following the workshop, staff participate in six monthly 60-minute team sessions over a six-month period. These sessions involve reflective dialogue, experiential exercises, compassion-focused practices, and group-based exploration of emotionally challenging work situations.

CFT Workshop

Behavioral

Participants attend a single half-day workshop providing psychoeducation and experiential exercises on compassion, affect regulation, and social mentalities based on Compassion Focused Therapy.

Primary outcomes

  1. Staff-Perceived Social Climate

    Time frame: T0 (6 months before start of the intervention), T1 (2 weeks before start of the intervention), T2 (2 weeks after last session of the intervention)

    Staff perceptions of social climate will be assessed using the Essen Climate Evaluation Schema (EssenCES), a self-report questionnaire.

  2. Compassion

    Time frame: T0 (6 months before start of the intervention), T1 (2 weeks before start of the intervention), T2 (2 weeks after last session of the intervention)

    Compassionate attitudes and behaviours will be measured using the German version of the Compassionate Engagement and Action Scales (CEAS) to assess staff capacity for self- and other-directed compassion. The CEAS is a self-report questionnaire.

Secondary outcomes

  1. Client-Perceived Social Climate

    Time frame: T0 (6 months before start of the intervention), T1 (2 weeks before start of the intervention), T2 (2 weeks after last session of the intervention)

    Client perceptions of institutional social climate will be measured using the EssenCES. Assessed at three timepoints to evaluate potential parallel changes from the client perspective.

  2. Critical Incidents

    Time frame: T0 (6 months before start of the intervention), T1 (2 weeks before start of the intervention), T2 (2 weeks after last session of the intervention)

    Frequency of critical incidents (e.g., aggression, safety breaches) will be extracted from institutional records. Routinely collected data will be used to assess environmental shifts during the intervention period.

Sponsors and collaborators

Lead sponsor

University Psychiatric Clinics Basel

Network

Registry information

Important dates

Study start
2024
Primary completion
2025
Study completion
2025
First posted
Aug 22, 2025
Registry last updated
May 18, 2026

OpenTrials presents study information sourced from ClinicalTrials.gov. The official registry record should be consulted for the latest information.

View the official ClinicalTrials.gov record (opens in a new tab)

This listing is for discovery and informational purposes only. It is not medical advice, does not guarantee that a study is recruiting, and does not determine eligibility. Contact the study team and a qualified healthcare professional when considering participation.

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