Anxiety, Depression, Insomnia, Interpersonal Disengagement, Optimism, Physician Burnout, Professional Fulfillment, Self-reported Medical Errors, Stress, Work Exhaustion
Conditions
Keywords
physician burnout, medical doctor, burnout, stress, depression, wellness, meditation, breathing exercise
Brief summary
The primary objective of the study was to determine whether the yoga-based breathing and meditation program SKY could improve wellness indicators in currently practicing physicians. The hypothesis of this study is that SKY is effective in reducing anxiety and depression, increasing subjective optimism, and reducing physician burnout in healthy, actively practicing physicians.
Detailed description
Physicians are exposed to high stress and strain that results in burnout, affecting not only them, their families, patients, but the whole healthcare system. Thus there is an urgent need to develop methods to increase resiliency of physicians. A comprehensive yoga breathing and meditation-based online program (Sudarshan Kriya Yoga, or SKY) is a potential approach to mitigate physician burnout. This is a randomized clinical trial assessing the potential efficacy of SKY compared to a stress management education (SME) training as control, conducted online. Both groups received training for three consecutive days, 1,5 hours per day, through group video conference. Active physicians participated in the study from November 2021 to March 2022. Of the 280 physicians who showed interest and prescreened, 238 were eligible and randomized to receive either the SKY or the control intervention.
Interventions
BEHAVIORALMeditation and breathing program : Sudarshan Kriya Yoga (SKY)
The SKY sessions (3x1,5 h on consecutive days) included online instruction in gentle stretches ('office yoga' in a sitting position), specific breathing exercises and meditation, and discussion of cognitive/behavioral coping skills. After the 3-day program, participants asked to practice the techniques once a day for about 30 min. In addition, there were weekly group exercise sessions of 1 hour where all participants were asked to join.
BEHAVIORALStress management education
This control intervention included viewing of educational videos on stress management and group discussions, where the sessions were equal in length to the SKY intervention. There were also weekly follow-up sessions as in the SKY group where the educational points were reviewed and experiences of the subjects during the previous week was discussed.
Sponsors
University Hospital, Akershus
Koc University Hospital, Istanbul, Turkey
Ataturk Chest Diseases Education and Research Hospital, Ankara, Turkey
Izmir Biomedicine and Genome Center
Oslo University Hospital
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
SUPPORTIVE_CARE
Masking
SINGLE (Outcomes Assessor)
Masking description
The people analysing the results/data were masked.
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
25 Years to 65 Years
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
* Actively working physicians without any chronic disease with documented interest in being part of a study to evaluate breath/meditation-derived exercises and a willingness to do some form of relaxation exercises every day for 8 weeks.
Exclusion criteria
* Presence of psychiatric illness or other major illnesses, such as bipolar disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder, uncontrolled hypertension, lung disease, liver disease, cancer, or heart disease; maintaining a regular mind-body program practice such as meditation, yoga, and breathing techniques.
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Change from Baseline Depression, Anxiety, and Stress scale immediately after the intervention and at 8 weeks | At baseline, right after the 3-day intervention, and at 8 weeks post-intervention | Scores assessed by the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale 42 (DASS-42). |
| Change from baseline in Professional Satisfaction index post-intervention and at 8 weeks | At baseline, right after the 3-day intervention, and at 8 weeks post-intervention | Scores assessed by the Professional Satisfaction Index (PFI). |
| Change from baseline in optimism post-intervention and at 8 weeks | At baseline, right after the 3-day intervention, and at 8 weeks post-intervention | Optimism scores assessed by the Life Orientation Test (Revised) (LOT-R) and the |
| Change from baseline in Insomnia post-intervention and at 8 weeks | At baseline, right after the 3-day intervention, and at 8 weeks post-intervention | Insomnia scores assesed by the Regensburg Insomnia Scale (RIS). |
Countries
Turkey (Türkiye)
Outcome results
None listed