There is no conflict of interest.
Citation
Copeland, D. (2020). Brief workplace interventions addressing burnout, compassion fatigue, and teamwork: A pilot study. Western Journal of Nursing Research, 43(2), 130–137. https://doi.org/10.1177/0193945920938048
Highlights
- The study’s objective was to examine the impact of five-minute intervention strategies on health outcomes.
- The study used an interrupted time series design with data from pre- and post-intervention surveys, record-keeping logs, and personal accounts from the participants. The author used statistical tests to compare differences in outcomes before and after the intervention.
- The study found significant relationships between the intervention and reduced burnout and secondary traumatic stress, as well as increased communication.
- This study receives a low evidence rating. This means we are not confident that the estimated effects are due to the five-minute intervention strategies; other factors are likely to have contributed.
Intervention Examined
Five-minute Intervention Strategies
Features of the Study
The study examined five-minute intervention strategies aimed at reducing work-related stress among nurses. The strategies included meditation, outdoor activities, gratitude exercises, and journaling. Participants in the study included 22 nurses and one nurse aid recruited through organizational email, meeting unspecified eligibility criteria. The setting was a single hospital site, with intervention components designed to be conveniently incorporated into the nurses' regular work shifts.
The study used an interrupted time series design to evaluate changes in health outcomes before and after the intervention. The participants were assigned to use one of the four intervention strategies or aa control group that did not use any intervention strategy. The study sample included only women, with an average age of 44 years. Data sources included surveys to track changes in nurses’ perceptions of burnout, compassion, fatigue, and teamwork; record-keeping logs that monitored adherence to the intervention protocols; and anecdotal feedback. The author used statistical tests to compare nurses’ burnout, secondary traumatic stress, situation monitoring, communication, and overall professional quality of life before and after the six-week intervention period.
Findings
Health and safety
- The study found a statistically significant relationship between journaling and reductions in burnout and increased communication.
- The study also found a statistically significant relationship between meditation and reduced secondary traumatic stress.
- No other significant relationships were found.
Considerations for Interpreting the Findings
Although the initial study design was a randomized controlled trial, the author only compared the outcomes of nurses measured before and after they participated in the intervention. The changes in outcomes were not compared with those of the control group or between the different intervention groups. Therefore, the study was reviewed as an interrupted time series. For these types of designs, the author must observe outcomes for multiple periods before the intervention to rule out the possibility that participants had increasing or decreasing trends in the outcomes examined before enrollment in the program. For example, if participants who had decreasing burnout tended to enroll in the program, we would anticipate further decreases over time, even if they did not participate in the program. Without knowing the trends before program enrollment, we cannot rule this out.
Causal Evidence Rating
The quality of causal evidence presented in this study is low because the author did not account for trends in outcomes before the intervention. This means we are not confident that the estimated effects are due to the five-minute intervention strategies; other factors are likely to have contributed.