Psychological Burnout
Conditions
Brief summary
This study aims to examine the effects of mindfulness practice administered using a mobile app on psychological health among health care workers in Singapore.
Detailed description
Research has shown that health workers are particularly at risk of experiencing heightened risks of burnout and psychological symptoms when dealing with a health pandemic, including the current COVID-19 pandemic (Lai et al., 2020; Tan et al., 2020; Wu et al., 2009). The increased risk reflects an urgent need to develop feasible psychological interventions to mitigate burnout and psychological symptoms among health workers. The present study aims to examine the effects of a brief mindfulness intervention delivered using a mobile application (HeadSpace) on psychological functioning in the context of coping with the COVID-19 pandemic in a sample of health workers in Singapore. A total of 80 health workers will be recruited and randomly assigned to using a mindfulness practice app or a cognitive games app daily over a period of 21 days. They will be assessed at baseline, post-intervention, and at one-month follow-up on depressive symptoms, anxiety, stress, burnout, compassion fatigue, compassion satisfaction, post-traumatic stress symptoms, trait mindfulness, self-compassion, sleep quality, working memory, and fear of COVID-19 infection. Results of the study will have implications on developing cost-effective interventions to mitigate psychological symptoms among health workers in the context of heightened pandemic-related stress.
Interventions
BEHAVIORALMindfulness Practice
10-15 mins of daily mindfulness practice using HeadSpace, for 3 weeks
BEHAVIORALCognitive training
10-15 mins of cognitive games using Lumosity, for 3 weeks
Sponsors
Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School
Yale-NUS College
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
SUPPORTIVE_CARE
Masking
SINGLE (Investigator)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
21 Years to 60 Years
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
* aged between 21 and 60 * being a health care worker based in Singapore * proficient in English * owns a smartphone (iOS or Android) with Wi-Fi or data access.
Exclusion criteria
-Regular mindfulness practice, defined by practicing a minimum of two to three times a week for 10 to 15 minutes each time within the past six months.
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| PTSD symptoms | Change from Baseline to Within 7 Days Post intervention | Posttraumatic stress disorder Checklist- Civilian Version(higher scores indicate greater PTSD symptoms) |
| Sleep Quality | Change from Baseline to Within 7 Days Post intervention | One item from Pittsburg Sleep Quality Inventory |
| Working Memory | Change from Baseline to Within 7 Days Post intervention | Digit span tasks - forward and backward |
| Depression | Change from Baseline to Within 7 Days Post intervention | Depression subscale of the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scales- 21 (DASS) |
| Anxiety | Change from Baseline to Within 7 Days Post intervention | Anxiety subscale of the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scales- 21 (DASS) |
| Fear of COVID-19 | Change from Baseline to Within 7 Days Post intervention | Fear of COVID-19 Scale |
| Burnout, Compassion Satisfaction, and Secondary Traumatic Stress | Change from Baseline to Within 7 Days Post intervention | Professional Quality of Life Scale Version 5 (3 subscales respectively) |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Self-Compassion | Change from Baseline to Within 7 Days Post intervention | Self-Compassion Scale (higher scores indicate greater self-compassion) |
| Trait Mindfulness | Change from Baseline to Within 7 Days Post intervention | Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (higher scores indicate greater trait mindfulness) |
Countries
Singapore
Outcome results
None listed