Clinical trial NCT05519267: Mindfulness-based Social Work and Self-Care (MBSWSC)
Official title: A Randomised Trial of Mindfulness-based Social Work and Self-Care Among Social Workers
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Phase: NA
Conditions: Stress
Burnout, Professional
Anxiety
Depression
Wellbeing
Lead sponsor: Queen's University, Belfast
Sponsor class: OTHER
First posted: 2022-08-29
Enrollment: 62
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 18
Standard ages: ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: yes
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Primary purpose: SUPPORTIVE_CARE

Brief summary: Social work is a stressful occupation with social workers at high risk of job-related stress and burnout. Mindfulness has been evidenced as a promising approach for improving: recovery from stress; behavioural responses to stress; and resilience.

The main aim of the study is to examine the efficacy of a bespoke, innovative, 6-session Mindfulness Intervention for social workers (MBSWSC) in reducing social worker stress, feelings of burnout, anxiety, low mood and improving well-being. The study will also compare outcomes from the MBSWSC with a briefer, condensed 3 session mindfulness programme (MBSC).

Detailed description: Background: Social work is a stressful occupation with social workers at high risk of burnout. It is perhaps unsurprising then that research has focused on the impact of working conditions and work-related stress in this population. COVID has seemingly intensified pressures on frontline social workers, in turn adversely impacting their health and wellbeing.

Despite awareness of the impact of social work, job-related stress, and burnout, there remains a lack of evidence on the implementation and effectiveness of interventions to mitigate these aspects and improve outcomes for social workers. A novel, innovative approach, embedded in social work practice, is needed to support and improve social worker wellbeing. Mindfulness has emerged as a promising approach evidencing success in improving: recovery, cognitive, emotional and behavioural responses to stress. Mindfulness has also been highlighted as an approach by which resilience is strengthened. Mindfulness has been found to generate positive outcomes for those working in health and social care; promoting wellbeing, increasing levels of self-care and self-compassion, reducing stress, and combating burnout. Self-care (self-compassion) has been highlighted as an important promoter of positive health effects in social work.

Although possible benefits of mindfulness for social workers have been suggested, the evidence base to support this is scant, mainly due to a scarcity of mindfulness based intervention studies aimed at social workers. Traditionally there has been a lack of evidence on the effectiveness of briefer mindfulness programmes; with recognised programmes such as MBSR and MBCT requiring significant time commitments from participants which may not be suitable for practicing professionals. In light of this; there is a clear need for high quality RCTs to add to the evidence base in this area and to inform future provision.

With this in mind, this study looked to explore the efficacy of a bespoke, innovative, 6-session Mindfulness Intervention for social workers (MBSWSC). It also served to compare the outcomes from the MBSWSC programme with a modified, condensed 3 session mindfulness programme (MBSC).

More explicitly, this RCT aims to examine the:

* Efficacy of the MBSWSC programme at improving social worker stress, feelings of burnout, anxiety, low mood and well-being (primary outcomes).
* Effectiveness of MBSWSC in improving mindfulness, attention regulation, acceptance, self-compassion, non-attachment and aversion, worry and rumination (secondary outcomes).
* Differences between MBSWSC outcomes and outcomes on the MBSC

Methods: 93 participants providing consent to participate in the study were randomised to either the experimental (MBSWSC) or active control (MBSC) groups. 62 participants completed baseline measures; with post-intervention measures completed by 47 participants.

The primary outcome of the study is the efficacy of MBSWSC on social worker stress, feelings of burnout, anxiety, low mood and well-being and secondary outcomes. The secondary outcome of the study is the differences in outcomes for MBSWSC participants and participants on the modified, condensed (briefer) MBSC. Data will be collected pre-intervention, post-intervention and at 3 month follow-up.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* Frontline social work practitioner; Working in Northern Ireland; Aged 18 years and over

Exclusion Criteria:

* Social workers in strategic social work roles with no contact with clients

Primary outcomes:
measure: Change in Stress measured on the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS)
timeFrame: Pre-intervention (week 1); Post-intervention (week 8); 3-month follow-up (week 20)
measure: Change in Burnout measured on the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI)
timeFrame: Pre-intervention (week 1); Post-intervention (week 8); 3-month follow-up (week 20)
measure: Change in Anxiety measured on the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS-A)
timeFrame: Pre-intervention (week 1); Post-intervention (week 8); 3-month follow-up (week 20)
measure: Change in Depression measured on the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS)
timeFrame: Pre-intervention (week 1); Post-intervention (week 8); 3-month follow-up (week 20)
measure: Change in Wellbeing measured on the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale (WEMWBS)
timeFrame: Pre-intervention (week 1); Post-intervention (week 8); 3-month follow-up (week 20)
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Change in Mindfulness measured by on the Southampton Mindfulness Questionnaire (SMQ)
timeFrame: Pre-intervention (week 1); Post-intervention (week 8); 3-month follow-up (week 20)
measure: Change in Self-compassion measured by on the Self-Compassion Scale (SCS)
timeFrame: Pre-intervention (week 1); Post-intervention (week 8); 3-month follow-up (week 20)
measure: Change in Worry measured on the Penn State Worry Questionnaire (PSWQ)
timeFrame: Pre-intervention (week 1); Post-intervention (week 8); 3-month follow-up (week 20)
measure: Change in Attention Regulation (Decentering) measured on the Experiences Questionnaire - Decentring (EQ-D)
timeFrame: Pre-intervention (week 1); Post-intervention (week 8); 3-month follow-up (week 20)
measure: Change in Acceptance measured on the The Philadelphia Mindfulness - Acceptance Subscale (PHLMS-A)
timeFrame: Pre-intervention (week 1); Post-intervention (week 8); 3-month follow-up (week 20)
measure: Change in Non-attachment measured by the Southampton Mindfulness Questionnaire Non Attachment subscale (SMQ-LG)
timeFrame: Pre-intervention (week 1); Post-intervention (week 8); 3-month follow-up (week 20)
measure: Change in Aversion measured by the Southampton Mindfulness Questionnaire Aversion subscale (SMQ-Av)
timeFrame: Pre-intervention (week 1); Post-intervention (week 8); 3-month follow-up (week 20)
measure: Change in Rumination measured on the Rumination Reflection Questionnaire Rumination subscale (RRQ-R)
timeFrame: Pre-intervention (week 1); Post-intervention (week 8); 3-month follow-up (week 20)
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Belfast
country: United Kingdom
facility: Queen's University Belfast
state: Northern Ireland
Study officials:
affiliation: University of Dublin, Trinity College
name: Alan Maddock, PhD
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References: