NAMAH—An Innovative Tele-ECHO Mentoring Program to Foster Well-being Among Physicians

Abstract

Background: The current study aimed to develop and implement the National Assistance in Mental Health for Health Care Providers (NAMAH) module, which focused on wellness and building resilience for a cohort of physicians. Methods: The NAMAH module is a 12-week tele-mentoring program leveraging videoconference technology that uses the ECHO (Extension of Community Healthcare Outcome) HUB and SPOKE and consists of real-life case discussions and a brief didactic. The module’s content was developed after iterative feedback from experts and incorporated suggestions from healthcare providers (HCPs) following a needs assessment. A pre and post-design was used to assess the impact of the module on psychological distress using the self-reported Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K10) and burnout using the Maslach Burnout—Inventory-Human Services Survey (MBI-HSS) among the 32 physicians who participated. Results: There was a significant decrease in the mean scores before (19.5 ± 6.27) and after (17.38 ± 6.23) the NAMAH module ( p < .05) in the psychological distress as measured by K 10 with a Cohen’s d of 0.41 (95% CI: 0.05–0.77). There was also a significant decrease in the mean scores after the intervention in the emotional exhaustion and depersonalization domain of the MBI-HSS with a medium effect size (Cohen’s d of 0.65) and large effect size (Cohen’s d of 0.94), respectively. Conclusion: The findings from this pilot study lay a foundational framework, encouraging further exploration, research, and scaling-up of such interventions to enhance mental health among physicians and HCPs.