A novel mindful-compassion art-based therapy for reducing burnout and promoting resilience among healthcare workers: findings from a waitlist randomized control trial

Protecting the mental health of healthcare workers is an urgent global public health priority. Healthcare workers, especially those immersed in palliative care, are prone to burnout due to the intense emotions associated with end-of-life caregiving. This study examines the efficacy of a novel, multi...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Ho, Andy Hau Yan, Tan-Ho, Geraldine, Ngo, Thuy Anh, Ong, Grace, Chong, Poh Heng, Dignadice, Dennis, Potash, Jordan
Other Authors: Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine (LKCMedicine)
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: 2022
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10356/154100
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Institution: Nanyang Technological University
Language: English
id sg-ntu-dr.10356-154100
record_format dspace
institution Nanyang Technological University
building NTU Library
continent Asia
country Singapore
Singapore
content_provider NTU Library
collection DR-NTU
language English
topic Science::Medicine
Burnout
Resilience
spellingShingle Science::Medicine
Burnout
Resilience
Ho, Andy Hau Yan
Tan-Ho, Geraldine
Ngo, Thuy Anh
Ong, Grace
Chong, Poh Heng
Dignadice, Dennis
Potash, Jordan
A novel mindful-compassion art-based therapy for reducing burnout and promoting resilience among healthcare workers: findings from a waitlist randomized control trial
description Protecting the mental health of healthcare workers is an urgent global public health priority. Healthcare workers, especially those immersed in palliative care, are prone to burnout due to the intense emotions associated with end-of-life caregiving. This study examines the efficacy of a novel, multimodal, and group-based Mindful-Compassion Art-based Therapy (MCAT) that integrates reflective self-awareness with creative emotional expression for protecting healthcare workers' mental health. A dual-arm open-label waitlist randomized controlled trial was conducted. A total of 56 healthcare workers were recruited from the largest homecare hospice in Singapore and randomized to the immediate-treatment condition of a standardized 6-week, 18-hours MCAT intervention (n=29), or the waitlist-control condition (n=27). Self-administered outcome measures on burnout, resilience, emotional regulation, self-compassion, death attitudes, and quality of life were collected at baseline, post-intervention/second-baseline at 6weeks, and follow-up/post-intervention at 12weeks. Results from mixed model ANOVAs reveal that treatment group participants experienced significant reduction in mental exhaustion, as well as significant improvements in overall emotional regulation, nonreactivity to intrusive thoughts, approach acceptance of death, and afterlife belief as compared to waitlist-control immediately after MCAT completion. Effect sizes of these impacts ranged from medium to large (η 2=0.65 to 0.170). Results from one-way ANOVAs further reveal that the treatment gains of reduced mental exhaustion and increased emotional regulation were maintained among treatment group participants at 12-weeks follow-up compared to baseline, with new benefits identified. These include increased ability to observe and describe one's experiences, elevated overall self-compassion, greater mindful awareness, enhanced common humanity, and better quality of life. Effect sizes of these impacts were large (η 2=0.128 to 0.298). These findings reflect the robust effectiveness and positive residual effects of MCAT for reducing burnout, building resilience, nurturing compassion, fostering collegial support, and promoting mental wellness among healthcare workers. The clinical model and applicability of MCAT in larger and more diverse caregiving contexts, such as family dementia care, are discussed. Clinical Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov # NCT03440606, #NCT04548089.
author2 Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine (LKCMedicine)
author_facet Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine (LKCMedicine)
Ho, Andy Hau Yan
Tan-Ho, Geraldine
Ngo, Thuy Anh
Ong, Grace
Chong, Poh Heng
Dignadice, Dennis
Potash, Jordan
format Article
author Ho, Andy Hau Yan
Tan-Ho, Geraldine
Ngo, Thuy Anh
Ong, Grace
Chong, Poh Heng
Dignadice, Dennis
Potash, Jordan
author_sort Ho, Andy Hau Yan
title A novel mindful-compassion art-based therapy for reducing burnout and promoting resilience among healthcare workers: findings from a waitlist randomized control trial
title_short A novel mindful-compassion art-based therapy for reducing burnout and promoting resilience among healthcare workers: findings from a waitlist randomized control trial
title_full A novel mindful-compassion art-based therapy for reducing burnout and promoting resilience among healthcare workers: findings from a waitlist randomized control trial
title_fullStr A novel mindful-compassion art-based therapy for reducing burnout and promoting resilience among healthcare workers: findings from a waitlist randomized control trial
title_full_unstemmed A novel mindful-compassion art-based therapy for reducing burnout and promoting resilience among healthcare workers: findings from a waitlist randomized control trial
title_sort novel mindful-compassion art-based therapy for reducing burnout and promoting resilience among healthcare workers: findings from a waitlist randomized control trial
publishDate 2022
url https://hdl.handle.net/10356/154100
_version_ 1759854939224408064
spelling sg-ntu-dr.10356-1541002023-03-05T15:32:21Z A novel mindful-compassion art-based therapy for reducing burnout and promoting resilience among healthcare workers: findings from a waitlist randomized control trial Ho, Andy Hau Yan Tan-Ho, Geraldine Ngo, Thuy Anh Ong, Grace Chong, Poh Heng Dignadice, Dennis Potash, Jordan Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine (LKCMedicine) School of Social Sciences Action Research for Community Health Laboratory The Palliative Care Centre for Excellence in Research and Education Science::Medicine Burnout Resilience Protecting the mental health of healthcare workers is an urgent global public health priority. Healthcare workers, especially those immersed in palliative care, are prone to burnout due to the intense emotions associated with end-of-life caregiving. This study examines the efficacy of a novel, multimodal, and group-based Mindful-Compassion Art-based Therapy (MCAT) that integrates reflective self-awareness with creative emotional expression for protecting healthcare workers' mental health. A dual-arm open-label waitlist randomized controlled trial was conducted. A total of 56 healthcare workers were recruited from the largest homecare hospice in Singapore and randomized to the immediate-treatment condition of a standardized 6-week, 18-hours MCAT intervention (n=29), or the waitlist-control condition (n=27). Self-administered outcome measures on burnout, resilience, emotional regulation, self-compassion, death attitudes, and quality of life were collected at baseline, post-intervention/second-baseline at 6weeks, and follow-up/post-intervention at 12weeks. Results from mixed model ANOVAs reveal that treatment group participants experienced significant reduction in mental exhaustion, as well as significant improvements in overall emotional regulation, nonreactivity to intrusive thoughts, approach acceptance of death, and afterlife belief as compared to waitlist-control immediately after MCAT completion. Effect sizes of these impacts ranged from medium to large (η 2=0.65 to 0.170). Results from one-way ANOVAs further reveal that the treatment gains of reduced mental exhaustion and increased emotional regulation were maintained among treatment group participants at 12-weeks follow-up compared to baseline, with new benefits identified. These include increased ability to observe and describe one's experiences, elevated overall self-compassion, greater mindful awareness, enhanced common humanity, and better quality of life. Effect sizes of these impacts were large (η 2=0.128 to 0.298). These findings reflect the robust effectiveness and positive residual effects of MCAT for reducing burnout, building resilience, nurturing compassion, fostering collegial support, and promoting mental wellness among healthcare workers. The clinical model and applicability of MCAT in larger and more diverse caregiving contexts, such as family dementia care, are discussed. Clinical Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov # NCT03440606, #NCT04548089. Nanyang Technological University Published version The MCAT study (grant no. M4081570.100) is funded by the Nanyang Technological University (NTU) Start-Up Grant, and the MCAT-DC study (grant ref. ARISE/2017/23) is funded by the ARISE Strategic Initiatives Fund of the Ageing Research Institute for Society and Education at NTU. 2022-06-08T07:21:58Z 2022-06-08T07:21:58Z 2021 Journal Article Ho, A. H. Y., Tan-Ho, G., Ngo, T. A., Ong, G., Chong, P. H., Dignadice, D. & Potash, J. (2021). A novel mindful-compassion art-based therapy for reducing burnout and promoting resilience among healthcare workers: findings from a waitlist randomized control trial. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, 744443-. https://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.744443 1664-1078 https://hdl.handle.net/10356/154100 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.744443 34744918 2-s2.0-85118615550 12 744443 en M4081570.100 ARISE/2017/23 Frontiers in Psychology © 2021 Ho, Tan-Ho, Ngo, Ong, Chong, Dignadice and Potash. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms. application/pdf