The Effects of Dog Therapy on Ambulance Staff Burnout Scores.

Study Overview
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Brief Summary
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Problem During the COVID 19 pandemic, NHS staff have become increasingly burned out. Mental health is the leading cause of staff sickness and absence in the NHS. Ambulance trusts have the highest rates of sickness across all NHS professions. Reduced staffing levels directly impacts service delivery. Staff struggling with poor mental health are more likely to make errors, have reduced empathy, and patients have lower patient satisfaction. The Solution? Dog therapy is used in hospital settings around the world for patient benefit and staff welfare. Evidence suggests dog therapy improves mood and reduces anxiety. Yorkshire Ambulance Service (YAS) has a small, but established dog therapy scheme, organised by the health and wellbeing team. This research aims to observe if dog therapy affects symptoms of burnout in YAS staff. We will use two sets of staff: Patient facing staff Staff with remote patient contact What will participants need to do? Participants will be given a Copenhagen Burnout Inventory - a questionnaire focusing on three factors: Personal burnout Work related burnout Client related burnout Burnout will be measured in 4 categories; no/low, moderate, high and severe burnout. The questionnaire will be completed at the beginning and end of 8 weeks of dog therapy. Some optional demographic questions Number of sessions attended Engagement with occupational health services Dog Ownership We will calculate the difference in severity of burnout between baseline and after 8 weeks of dog therapy. A PPI group has been consulted on methodology, wording of plain English summary and the dissemination plan. This research will be distributed to all interested participants, published in an appropriate journal presented at conferences, and presented in the ICA dissemination event.

Official Title
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The Effects of Dog Therapy on Ambulance Staff Burnout Scores.

Conditions
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Burn Out, EMS Exposures or Injuries of EMS Personnel

Intervention / Treatment
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* Other: Copenhagen Burnout Inventry


Participation Criteria
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Eligibility Criteria
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Inclusion Criteria: Yorkshire Ambulance Service (YAS) Employee with patient contact. Patient contact includes face to face to face or remote patient contact. Taking part in YAS dog therapy scheme. Completed no more than 2 dog therapy sessions to date. - Exclusion Criteria: Staff with no patient contact as part of their role. Staff on bank contract -

Ages Eligible for Study
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Minimum Age: 18 Years
Maximum Age: 68 Years

Sexes Eligible for Study
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All

Accepts Healthy Volunteers
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Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Study Plan
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How is the study designed?
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Arms and Interventions

| Participant Group/Arm | Intervention/Treatment |
| --- | --- |
| Experimental Group<br>Ambulance Service Staff participating in pet therapy sessions. | Other: Copenhagen Burnout Inventry<br>* Questionnaire<br>|

What is the study measuring?
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Primary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Mean difference in change of each section of Copenhagen Burnout Inventory (CBI) Score | CBI will be measured at week 0 and week 8. The CBI is composed of 3 sections. We will calculate a mean change in score for each of the 3 sections. | 8 weeks. | 

Secondary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Mean difference ambulance turnaround times. | We will calculate a mean difference in ambulance turnaround times for those participating in dog therapy vs those not participating on dog therapy. | 8 weeks. | 
| Drop out rate. | We will report the proportion of participants that withdraw from the study. | 8 weeks. |