Acceptance and commitment therapy on perceived stress and psychological flexibility of psychiatric nurses: a randomized control trial

Seyyed Arman Hosseini Zarvijani,Samaneh Parchebafieh,Ladan Fattah Moghaddam

doi:10.1186/s12912-021-00763-4

Abstract

BackgroundNursing in psychiatric wards is considered a highly stressful career due to the type of patients and the problem of communicating with them. Finding appropriate solutions to overcome this stress can improve the general health of nurses and improve their quality of work. The aim was to investigate the impact of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) on the perceived stress (PS) and psychological flexibility (PF) of nurses in psychiatric wards.MethodsA total of 70 nurses of Razi Psychiatric Center of Tehran were randomly selected and divided into two experimental and control groups of 35. In addition to routine interventions, the experimental group was provided with eight 2-h sessions of ACT training, whereas the control group only received routine interventions. Prior to the intervention sessions and a month after the last session, demographic information, PS scale, and Acceptance and Action Questionnaire (2nd Edition) were completed in both groups.ResultsThere was a significant difference regarding the PS level (P = 0.002) and PF (P = 0.001) in the control and experimental groups; the experimental group showed lower PS and higher PF.ConclusionsACT can lead to reduced PS and improved PF, which can be considered as a solution to empower nurses working in psychiatric wards.Trial registrationThis was registered in Iranian Registry of Clinical Trials (IRCT) (clinical trial code: IRCT20180506039557N1. Registered 2018-10-31. Retrospectively registered,https://en.irct.ir/trial/31040

Highlights

Nursing in psychiatric wards is considered a highly stressful career due to the type of patients and the problem of communicating with them
Working with other nurses and staff, communicating with patients, and high level of required skill and knowledge to work in psychiatric wards, heavy workload, the need for nurses to urgently respond to emergency situations, and heavy responsibility of caring for psychiatric wards with specific patients suffering from psychological problems are among the stress factors of this profession [7]
Nurses and staff are the major victims of aggressive behaviors from psychiatric patients as in general, 75% of psychiatric nurses are at least once exposed to aggression and assault from their patients, and those with lower scientific and practical abilities are more vulnerable [8, 9]

Summary

Introduction

Nursing in psychiatric wards is considered a highly stressful career due to the type of patients and the problem of communicating with them. Psychiatric wards are one of the most stressful centers among medical and educational centers [5], and nursing in these wards is considered a stressful occupation due to the type of patients and the problem of communicating with them They continuously support and care for patients suffering from depression, anxiety, schizophrenia and bipolar, and personality disorders [6]. A wide range of studies on nursing occupational stress indicates that individuals with high levels of one or more aspects of burnout have higher mean scores in perceived stress [14,15,16] These results suggest that further research in this area is highly crucial and significant. Identifying major predictors of these types of consequences can make the development of systems, processes, and interventions related to these aspects more effective and help to provide efficient protection of individuals and organizations [17, 18]

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