Clinical trial NCT06536387: Storytelling Through Music to Improve Well-being Among Homeless Service Providers
Official title: Storytelling Through Music: a Novel Approach to Improve Well-being Among Homeless Service Providers
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Phase: NA
Conditions: Burnout, Professional
Anxiety
Depression
Secondary Trauma
Keywords: burnout
music intervention
emotional well-being
work-related stress
Lead sponsor: University of Texas at Austin
Sponsor class: OTHER
First posted: 2024-08-02
Enrollment: 14
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 18
Standard ages: ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: yes
Allocation: NA
Intervention model: SINGLE_GROUP
Primary purpose: OTHER

Brief summary: Homelessness is a complex social issue and requires a dedicated workforce of helping professionals, including nurses and social workers. Secondary traumatic stress is common in this workforce and contributes to poor professional quality of life, burnout, and job turnover. These factors undermine the health and well-being of homeless service providers and threaten the stability of this critical workforce. The purpose of this study is to evaluate "Storytelling Through Music," an innovative 6-week, multi-dimensional intervention, to improve well-being among homeless service providers.

Detailed description: Research has found that the burden of secondary traumatic stress among homeless service providers (HSP) is similar to that among other healthcare professionals, including nurses working in urban emergency departments and in inpatient psychiatric hospitals. Left unaddressed, secondary traumatic stress can cause compassion fatigue and emotional exhaustion, furthering a cycle of poor professional quality of life (QoL), burnout, and job turnover. Research has identified that arts-based interventions have promise in helping healthcare professionals cope with work-related emotions, assist in revealing genuine emotions linked to work-related stress, and in improving professional QoL. What remains unclear is if arts-based interventions can yield similar benefits amongst HSPs.

The purpose of this study, therefore, is to evaluate the feasibility of implementing Storytelling Through Music (STM) with HSPs working with the homeless population in Austin, Texas. STM is a six-week intervention that combines storytelling, reflective writing, song-writing, and self-care skills to improve emotion regulation through affective and cognitive coping skills. Our preliminary data suggests STM to be feasible and acceptable, and preliminary evidence demonstrates improved coping, psychosocial well-being, and burnout in nurses. Specifically, this project aims to:

Aim 1: Explore the contextual factors impacting the well-being of frontline HSPs.

Aim 2: Examine the feasibility of implementing Storytelling Through Music with HSPs.

Aim 3: Investigate the preliminary intervention effect on coping (emotion regulation, self-compassion); well-being (anxiety, depressive symptoms, loneliness, post-traumatic growth, insomnia); and work-related factors (secondary traumatic stress, burnout, compassion satisfaction, and intent to leave).

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* \>18 years old
* employed in a homeless services organization in Austin/Travis County for at least 6 months
* licensed as a nurse or social worker
* ability to read and speak English
* access to computer, internet, and zoom.

Exclusion Criteria:

* previous participation in the STM intervention

Primary outcomes:
measure: Study Feasibility
timeFrame: Immediately post-intervention (6 weeks)
measure: Intervention Feasibility
timeFrame: Immediately post-intervention (6 weeks)
measure: Intervention Acceptability
timeFrame: Immediately post-intervention (6 weeks)
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Mean Change from Baseline in Anxiety Scores at 6 weeks and 10 weeks
timeFrame: Immediately post-intervention and 1-month post-intervention
measure: Mean Change from Baseline in Depression Scores at 6 weeks and 10 weeks
timeFrame: Immediately post-intervention and 1-month post-intervention
measure: Mean Change from Baseline in Emotion Regulation Scores at 6 weeks and 10 weeks
timeFrame: Immediately post-intervention and 1-month post-intervention
measure: Mean Change from Baseline in Self-Compassion Scores at 6 weeks and 10 weeks
timeFrame: Immediately post-intervention and 1-month post-intervention
measure: Mean Change from Baseline in Loneliness Scores at 6 weeks and 10 weeks
timeFrame: Immediately post-intervention and 1-month post-intervention
measure: Mean Change from Baseline in Post-traumatic Growth Scores at 6 weeks and 10 weeks
timeFrame: Immediately post-intervention and 1-month post-intervention
measure: Mean Change from Baseline in Insomnia Scores at 6 weeks and 10 weeks
timeFrame: Immediately post-intervention and 1-month post-intervention
measure: Mean Change from Baseline in Professional Quality of Life Scores at 6 weeks and 10 weeks
timeFrame: Immediately post-intervention and 1-month post-intervention
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Austin
country: United States
facility: University of Texas at Austin
state: Texas
Study officials:
affiliation: University of Texas at Austin
name: Carolyn Phillips
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References: