Clinical trial NCT04393077: Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) Effect on Nurses
Official title: Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) Effect on Nurses' Stress, Anxiety and Burnout Levels During the COVID-19 Pandemic Process: A Randomized Controlled Study
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Phase: NA
Conditions: Stress
Anxiety
Burnout, Caregiver
Keywords: COVID-19
Emotional Freedom Technique
Lead sponsor: Istanbul Saglik Bilimleri University
Sponsor class: OTHER
First posted: 2020-05-19
Enrollment: 80
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 18
Maximum age (years): 65
Standard ages: ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: yes
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Primary purpose: SUPPORTIVE_CARE

Brief summary: Background: Infectious disease outbreaks have a psychological effect on the general population, and especially on health workers. Nurses who care for COVID-19 patients feel negative emotions, fear, and anxiety due to fatigue, discomfort, and helplessness due to high-intensity work.

Objective: The study aims to evaluate the effect of EFT in the prevention of stress, anxiety, and burnout of nurses who have an important position in the fight against COVID-19.

Design: Randomized controlled trial. Setting: COVID-19 department of a university hospital in Istanbul Province, Turkey.

Participants: The sample of the study consisted of nurses working on 80 COVID-19 cases.

Methods: The investigators will recruit nurses who care for the patient infected with COVID-19 randomly allocated them to the intervention (n = 40) and control (n = 40) groups. EFT will apply to the experimental group with online access. Data will collect using the Introductory Characteristics Form, the Subjective Discomfort Unit Scale, the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, and the Burnout Scale.

Detailed description: With the onset of the COVID-19 epidemic, healthcare workers have assumed important responsibilities in the control, prevention, care, and treatment of its spread. In this period, they provided the necessary health practices for suspicious or confirmed COVID-19 patients in the front lines and under harsh conditions, which are generally long and tiring. It is clear that infectious disease outbreaks have a psychological effect on the general population, and especially on health workers. The social distance required to prevent outbreaks is a key factor in disease management while causing social and psychological effects.

2.1. Design A randomized controlled experimental research design. The study complied with the guidelines of the Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials (CONSORT) checklist.

2.2. Participants This study will conduct with nurses working in a university hospital located in Istanbul between May 2020 and June 2020, working in the care of COVID-19 patients.

2.5. Measures The data will be collected with the Introductory Characteristics Form, the positive units of distress scale, the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, and the Burnout Inventory. The investigators created our data collection forms using Survey Monkey, which provides electronic self-access and prevents data from multiple entries from the same person, making it easier to collect and track data. Confidentiality will be guaranteed by completely disabling electronic and IP address records to obtain anonymous replies.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* Not taking any courses about coping with anxiety and stress,
* Volunteering to participate in the study.

Exclusion Criteria:

* Having any psychiatric diagnoses

Primary outcomes:
measure: The subjective units of distress scale
timeFrame: Immediately after EFT implementation
measure: The State Anxiety
timeFrame: Immediately after EFT implementation
measure: Burnout
timeFrame: Immediately after EFT implementation
Secondary outcomes:
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Istanbul
country: Turkey
facility: Medeniyet University
Study officials:
affiliation: Istanbul Medeniyet University
name: Berna Dinçer
role: STUDY_CHAIR
References:
citation: Sun N, Wei L, Shi S, Jiao D, Song R, Ma L, Wang H, Wang C, Wang Z, You Y, Liu S, Wang H. A qualitative study on the psychological experience of caregivers of COVID-19 patients. Am J Infect Control. 2020 Jun;48(6):592-598. doi: 10.1016/j.ajic.2020.03.018. Epub 2020 Apr 8.
citation: Hersch RK, Cook RF, Deitz DK, Kaplan S, Hughes D, Friesen MA, Vezina M. Reducing nurses' stress: A randomized controlled trial of a web-based stress management program for nurses. Appl Nurs Res. 2016 Nov;32:18-25. doi: 10.1016/j.apnr.2016.04.003. Epub 2016 Apr 9.