Quality of life, work motivation, burn-out and stress perceptions benefits of a stress management program by autogenic training for emergency room staff: A pilot study

Abstract

Emergency room have particularly stressful work situations. Emergency room personnel cope with stressors on a daily basis. These stressors can be risks factor for burn out and for reduced quality of life and work motivation. Emergency room staff of one of ASP 3 CT urban hospital in Acireale, Italy participated to stress management program by autogenic training twice a month for 16 weeks. This program were prepared based on existing research and studies, and were conducted by clinical psychologists. We found that the mean value in pre-test is significantly different from mean value in post-test for: Perceived Stress Scale PPS (t=7.72 with 27 df and P<0.001); Euro Quality for life (t=-14,13 with 27 df and P<0.001); Work motivation assessed by Visual Analogue scale VAS (t=-4.52 with 27 df and P<0.001). In the Maslach Burnout Inventory, the mean value is significantly different for emotional exhaustion sub-scale (t=5.64 with 27 with 27 df and P<0.001) and for depersonalization subscale (t=6.67 with 27 df and P<0.001). No significant difference was observed for the personal accomplishment sub-scale. This research suggests that psychological interventions with emergency room staff are effective. Our study showed effectiveness of an auto-genic and stress management training in improvement of quality of life, work motivation, burn-out and stress perceptions for emergency department team.