None listed
Conditions
Brief summary
Currently, there is a critical lack of established mental health services or treatment programs for burnout, let alone services or programs tailored specifically for health professionals. Burnout is a work-related syndrome characterised by emotional exhaustion, disengagement from work, and a reduced sense of accomplishment. Burnout is notably prevalent among health professionals, especially due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Burnout is a cause for concern as it is related to poor mental health among health professionals, increased staff turnover, and reduced patient safety. To help address this, the Black Dog Institute (BDI) created an online self-guided cognitive behavioural program designed to support health professionals experiencing burnout. The “Navigating Burnout” program sits within BDI’s dedicated health professional support service – The Essential Network (TEN) – where health professionals can access a both digital and person-to-person services. In this study, we will conduct a 10-week randomised-controlled trial to examine the effectiveness and acceptability of a “blended care” version of Navigating Burnout in supporting doctors experiencing burnout, in which a clinical psychologist will work through Navigating Burnout with the participant. This blended care Navigating Burnout will be compared to (a) a self-guided version of the digital program where the participant will work through the program online by themselves and (b) an active attention control where participants will be provided with digital self-care.
Interventions
Navigating Burnout is a digital cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) program covering seven topics: (1) understanding burnout; (2) increasing social connections; (3) managing unrealistic expectations; (4) setting limits; (5) valued living; (6) self-care; and (7) a module for managers detailing evidence-based strategies for improving workplace mental health. Each topic contains lived experience videos, behavioural strategies, and CBT worksheets.
Usage of, and adherence to, Navigating Burnout will
Navigating Burnout is a digital cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) program covering seven topics: (1) understanding burnout; (2) increasing social connections; (3) managing unrealistic expectations; (4) setting limits; (5) valued living; (6) self-care; and (7) a module for managers detailing evidence-based strategies for improving workplace mental health. Each topic contains lived experience videos, behavioural strategies, and CBT worksheets. Usage of, and adherence to, Navigating Burnout will be monitored through website analytics. Links to Navigating Burnout provided to intervention participants will contain their unique participant identification number. Website analytic tools will then be used to export all website analytics (e.g. time of access, pages visited) containing these unique participant identifiers and the Navigating Burnout web pages visited. These sessions will then be linked to individual participants’ data in order to examine adherence to, and usage of Navigating Burnout (i.e. whether participants accessed Navigating Burnout, which Navigating Burnout pages were visited by participants, whether participants returned to view materials multiple times, etc). Blended care: In the blended care arm, a clinical psychologist will work through the Navigating Burnout content with participants over 10 weeks in five fortnightly 1-hour clinical psychologist sessions. Sessions will be delivered one-on-one via telehealth. Participants will also be emailed a link to Navigating Burnout at onset, and be directed to specific components of the program (in line with their sessions) to engage with between consultations over the 10 weeks, in order to support awareness and management of burnout. In addition to the above usage of website analytics to monitor usage of Navigating Burnout, participants' adherence to telehealth sessions in the blended care arm will be monitored through session attendance records completed by the clinical psychologist. Self-guided: In the self-guided arm, participants will be emailed a link to Navigating Burnout to engage with over 10 weeks. While participants will have access to the entirety of Navigating Burnout from onset, to support completion of the program participants will be emailed structured reminders fortnightly to work through the course and providing them with a link to Navigating Burnout. No specific minimum duration of time engaging with Navigating Burnout will be suggested each week, simply that participants complete the program in its entirety over the course of the 10 weeks (estimated 2-3 hours).
Sponsors
University of New South Wales
Study design
Allocation
Randomised controlled trial
Intervention model
Parallel
Primary purpose
Treatment
Masking
Blinded (masking used) (Subject)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
All
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
• are a registered doctor currently practising in Australia; • can read and speak English fluently; • are experiencing self-reported burnout; • can access the internet in a private location on a device suitable for viewing websites and attending telehealth consultations; • can attend telehealth consultations during business hours
Exclusion criteria
• are currently engaged with psychological therapy such as cognitive-behavioural therapy; • have a current diagnosis of severe mental illness that requires more specialist support (e.g., bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, etc.); • report symptom scores in the Severe or Extremely Severe ranges for anxiety or depression during screening (DASS-21); • report suicidal ideation or problematic alcohol or drug use during screening (rating of Often or Almost Always on screening items addressing these criteria)
Outcome results
None listed