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Completed

NCT Number: NCT02552264

Testing a Training Program to Enhance Emotional Management Skills and Professional Resiliency in Healthcare Providers

The Behaviour Change Institute (BCI) was created in 2008 within Capital Health to provide healthcare providers with evidence-based skills in helping patients change. In addition, the BCI has also become a resource within the organization to assist with other needed changes, such as helping healthcare providers use new or different procedures to provide better patient care. Through our work at the BCI we have identified the need to help healthcare providers to better cope with change. The purpose of this project is to implement and to evaluate an evidence-based professional resiliency training program for staff to help them better cope with change. This professional resiliency training program is based on an empirically supported form of therapy called Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. The training takes the form of a hands-on, applied workshop designed to increase resiliency and flexibility in a workplace setting.

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Key information

Conditions

Burnout, Professional Adaptation, Psychological Behavior Behavioral Symptoms Burnout, Psychological Occupational Diseases Occupational Stress Stress, Psychological

Age range

19 year and older

Sex eligibility

All sexes

Study type

Interventional

Phase

Not applicable

Primary location

Nova Scotia Health Authority

Halifax, Nova Scotia, B3H2y9, Canada

About this study

The Behaviour Change Institute (BCI) was created in 2008 within Capital Health to provide healthcare providers with behaviour change counselling skills. These skills are backed by evidence-based theory and competency training methods and are designed to be used by healthcare providers to help their patients change their behaviours. Acquiring these skills involves change for the healthcare provider. Through our work at the BCI we have come to identify the need to help healthcare providers effectively manage their emotions in such situations in order to learn behavior change counselling skills and to continue to use them effectively over time. The ability to effectively manage emotions, including discomfort and distress, may differentiate between individuals who are able to successfully adopt and maintain new behaviours over time from those who do not (Brown, Lejuez, Kahler, Strong, & Zvolensky, 2005). That is, we have identified that there is a significant need to support healthcare providers to more effectively manage emotions in order to help them change.

The Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for the Workplace program (ACT-W) is an evidence-based program designed to help individuals manage emotions and stress by learning skills to accept negative feelings, thoughts, and sensations and to move toward valued behaviours (Flaxman, Bond, Livheim, Hayes, 2013). The ACT-W program has been shown to increase the ability to manage emotions and stress (Flaxman & Bond, 2010) and to increase the ability to learn new behaviours (Bond & Flaxman, 2006; Luoma et al., 2007; Varra, Hayes et al., 2008).

The purpose of this project is to evaluate the implementation of the ACT-W training program for healthcare providers through the BCI.

Who can participate

Healthy volunteers accepted: Yes

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

Inclusion criteria

  • Employees (full time or part time; administrative or clinical) within service areas with managerial approval to attend the training program.

Exclusion criteria

  • None

Treatment and study plan

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for the Workplace

Behavioral

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy

Other names: Professional Resiliency

Primary outcomes

  1. Change in Psychological Flexibility

    Time frame: Change from T1 (baseline) to T2 (1 week) and change from T1 (baseline) to T3 (3 months)

    The Acceptance and Action Questionnaire, a 7-item self-report scale which measures one's willingness to experience difficult thoughts and emotions while also persisting in the pursuit of values and goals.

Secondary outcomes

  1. Change in Burnout

    Time frame: Change from T1 (baseline) to T2 (1 week) and change from T1 (baseline) to T3 (3 months)

    The Maslach Burnout Inventory, a 22-item self-report scale that measures three facets of burnout including emotional exhaustion (e.g. emotionally overextended within one's job); depersonalization (e.g. having impersonal responses to one's customers/clients; and personal accomplishment (e.g. sense of competence).

  2. Absenteeism

    Time frame: at 2 years

    Number of hours missed from the workplace due to illness from time sheets submitted by each employee to payroll.

Sponsors and collaborators

Lead sponsor

Nova Scotia Health Authority

Other

Collaborators

  • IWK Health Centre

Registry information

Official study title

Implementing and Evaluating an Empirically Supported Training Program to Enhance Emotional Management Skills and Professional Resiliency in Healthcare Providers

Important dates

Study start
2020
Primary completion
2023
Study completion
2023
First posted
Sep 17, 2015
Registry last updated
Aug 21, 2024

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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