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NCT Number: NCT07018609

Mitigating Burnout in Nursing and Associated Healthcare Staff

Workplace stress for healthcare workers is at an all-time high and the COVID-19 Pandemic magnified and amplified the impact of stress and burnout on health care workers, especially for frontline staff such as nurses. There are multiple external and individual factors that affect clinician well-being, and organizational factors are an important aspect to address when attempting to mitigate nurse burnout and improve well-being. This project seeks to expand two interventions that were piloted in the last few years since the Covid-19 Pandemic, validated to show improvement in staff well-being and decreased feelings of burnout following the interventions, and are easily implemented to benefit nurses and other multidisciplinary health care workers and students in both the inpatient and outpatient settings.

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Key information

Conditions

Burn Out Behavior Behavioral Symptoms Burnout, Psychological Nurses Stress, Psychological

Age range

18 year and older

Sex eligibility

All sexes

Study type

Interventional

Phase

Not applicable

Who can participate

Healthy volunteers accepted: Yes

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

Inclusion criteria

  • English-speaking employees or students at Penn State Health and College of Medicine.

Exclusion criteria

  • Non-English speaking individuals

Treatment and study plan

Zen Den Experience

Behavioral

The Zen Den is a dedicated safe space for healthcare staff to decompress and recharge during shifts, addressing the growing issue of workplace stress. It has soft warm lighting, sound machines and aroma therapy, relaxing furnishings centered around a faux fireplace to create a stress-free environment.

Music Therapy Experience

Behavioral

The music therapy experience will consist of either Music Minutes which have music therapists available on specific units and circulating amongst staff across flexible shift times. Intervention choices will include relaxation songs, motivation songs, music, mindfulness, breathing to music, dance-a-minute, and brief song rewrites. Notes for Resilience will be scheduled group sessions that follow a more structured format and are 30 to 60 minutes in length. Involvement and coping will be emphasized through active forms of music participation, including drum circles, unit playlist creation, song writing, jam sessions, and song discussion.

Primary outcomes

  1. The number of subjects who state preference for having long-term access to the intervention.

    Time frame: Survey data will be collected at the end of the intervention up to 30 minutes post intervention.

    This will be measured on a Likert scale where 0 is strongly disagree and 5 is strongly agree

  2. The number of subjects who report improvement of subject's energy level needed to complete immediate job responsibilities.

    Time frame: Survey data will be collected at the end of the intervention up to 30 minutes post intervention.

    This will be measured on a Likert scale where 0 is strongly disagree and 5 is strongly agree

  3. The number of subjects who report improvement of subject's understanding of what is needed in the moment to overcome challenges.

    Time frame: Survey data will be collected at the end of the intervention up to 30 minutes post intervention.

    This will be measured on a Likert scale where 0 is strongly disagree and 5 is strongly agree

  4. The number of subjects who report improvement navigating challenging or difficult situations in the workplace

    Time frame: Survey data will be collected at the end of the intervention up to 30 minutes post intervention.

    This will be measured on a Likert scale where 0 is strongly disagree and 5 is strongly agree

  5. The number of subjects who report improvement in expressing thoughts, questions and feelings with colleagues situations in the workplace.

    Time frame: Survey data will be collected at the end of the intervention up to 30 minutes post intervention.

    This will be measured on a Likert scale where 0 is strongly disagree and 5 is strongly agree

  6. The number of subjects who report improvement in feeling less isolated at work.

    Time frame: Survey data will be collected at the end of the intervention up to 30 minutes post intervention.

    This will be measured on a Likert scale where 0 is strongly disagree and 5 is strongly agree

Secondary outcomes

  1. The number of subjects reporting the intervention was well facilitated.

    Time frame: Survey data will be collected at the end of the intervention up to 30 minutes post intervention.

    This will be measured on a Likert scale where 0 is strongly disagree and 5 is strongly agree

Study contacts

Contact information is provided by the study sponsor or research team.

ERIC R MESSNER, PhD

CONTACT

[email protected]

7175318348

Sponsors and collaborators

Lead sponsor

Milton S. Hershey Medical Center

Other

Registry information

Official study title

The Zen Den - Mitigating Burnout in Nursing and Associated Healthcare Staff

Important dates

Study start
2027
Primary completion
2028
Study completion
2028
First posted
Jun 12, 2025
Registry last updated
Jun 5, 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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