Psychological stress self-help interventions for healthcare workers in the context of COVID-19 in China: A randomized controlled trial protocol

Burnout and perceived stress among Italian physical therapists during the COVID-19 pandemic: a cross-sectional study

High levels of burnout and psychological distress have been reported for healthcare workers, with seemingly worse outcomes after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, to date, scarce evidence has been gathered about the condition of physical therapists. This cross-sectional study investigated the three burnout dimensions of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and personal accomplishment as measured by the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) and assessed perceived stress with the 10-item Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) in a sample of Italian physical therapists with the aim of examining the relationships between these variables and demographic and work-related factors. An anonymous questionnaire was administered to a convenience sample of 671 professionals from the whole nation and associations between burnout, perceived stress, and work-related variables were investigated with descriptive and inferential statistical methods. Overall, 25% of the participants showed high burnout risk (40% scored high on emotional exhaustion, 36% scored high on depersonalization, and 19% scored low on personal accomplishment), whereas 50% reported high levels of perceived stress. Having been exposed to verbal or physical aggressive behaviors at work (OR = 4.06) was associated with high burnout risk, and participants at risk were significantly younger than those showing no burnout risk (d = 0.27). Having a partner (OR = 0.54) and having children (OR = 0.56) were associated on the other hand with reduced burnout risk. Regression models identified weekly working hours (β = 0.16), exposure to aggressive behaviors at work (β = 0.12), and perceived stress (β = 0.66) as significant predictors of emotional exhaustion, gender (β = 0.18), exposure to aggressive behaviors (β = 0.09), and perceived stress (β = 0.37) as predictors of depersonalization, and gender (β=-0.1) and perceived stress (β=-0.35) as predictors of personal accomplishment.In summary, this study found high rates of burnout and psychological distress among Italian physical therapists a year after the outbreak of COVID-19. Significant relations were found between burnout, psychological distress, and both socio-demographic and work-related variables.

Effectiveness of a WHO self-help psychological intervention to alleviate stress among healthcare workers in the context of COVID-19 in China: a randomised controlled trial

AIMS

To examine the effectiveness of Self-Help Plus (SH+) as an intervention for alleviating stress levels and mental health problems among healthcare workers.

METHODS

This was a prospective, two-arm, unblinded, parallel-designed randomised controlled trial. Participants were recruited at all levels of medical facilities within all municipal districts of Guangzhou. Eligible participants were adult healthcare workers experiencing psychological stress (10-item Perceived Stress Scale scores of ≥15) but without serious mental health problems or active suicidal ideation. A self-help psychological intervention developed by the World Health Organization in alleviating psychological stress and preventing the development of mental health problems. The primary outcome was psychological stress, assessed at the 3-month follow-up. Secondary outcomes were depression symptoms, anxiety symptoms, insomnia, positive affect (PA) and self-kindness assessed at the 3-month follow-up.

RESULTS

Between November 2021 and April 2022, 270 participants were enrolled and randomly assigned to either SH+ (n = 135) or the control group (n = 135). The SH+ group had significantly lower stress at the 3-month follow-up (b = -1.23, 95% CI = -2.36, -0.10, p = 0.033) compared to the control group. The interaction effect indicated that the intervention effect in reducing stress differed over time (b = -0.89, 95% CI = -1.50, -0.27, p = 0.005). Analysis of the secondary outcomes suggested that SH+ led to statistically significant improvements in most of the secondary outcomes, including depression, insomnia, PA and self-kindness.

CONCLUSIONS

This is the first known randomised controlled trial ever conducted to improve stress and mental health problems among healthcare workers experiencing psychological stress in a low-resource setting. SH+ was found to be an effective strategy for alleviating psychological stress and reducing symptoms of common mental problems. SH+ has the potential to be scaled-up as a public health strategy to reduce the burden of mental health problems in healthcare workers exposed to high levels of stress.

Stress Alleviation Methods for community-Based Health ActiVists (SAMBHAV): Development of a digital program for stress reduction for community health workers in rural India

Background

Community health workers (CHWs) face high levels of stress (both professional and personal) and risk of burnout, highlighting the need for efforts to promote their mental health and well-being. This study seeks to develop a digital stress reduction program for CHWs in rural India.

Methods

A stepwise design process was employed to adapt and digitize the evidence-based World Health Organization's Self-Help Plus (SH+) intervention for addressing psychological distress among CHWs in Madhya Pradesh, India. This involved participatory design workshops with CHWs to ensure that the digital stress reduction intervention would be relevant for their needs and the local culture and context. Small groups of CHWs reviewed the adapted program content, allowing the research team to make refinements such as simplifying language, tailoring content to the local setting, and ensuring that program materials are both interesting and relevant. Simultaneously, the research team digitized the content, leveraging a combination of video and graphical content, and uploaded it to the Sangath Learning Management System, a digital platform accessible on a smartphone app.

Results

In total, 18 CHWs contributed to the adaptation of the SH+ content and digital intervention development. Participants commented on finding some terms difficult to follow and recommended simplifying the language and providing detailed explanations. Participants offered positive feedback on the adapted content, expressing that they found the examples covered in the material both relatable and relevant to their own personal experiences at home and in the workplace. By combining participants' insights and comments with feedback from content experts, it was possible to finalize a digital Hindi version of the SH+ intervention for CHWs in rural India.

Conclusions

This study is timely given the continued detrimental impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, and offers a promising and potentially scalable digital program to alleviate psychological distress among frontline health workers.