Abstract
BackgroundGiven the emotional demanding nature of social services, we developed a brief daily body-mind-spirit (BMS) program and successfully piloted it with workers at elderly services. The proposed study focuses on community mental health workers who are often under chronic stress and vulnerable to burnout.MethodsThe study aims to evaluate the program for fostering sustainable emotional capacity and work engagement for community mental health workers. A multi-site randomized controlled trial design is adopted. All the 24 the Integrated Community Centre for Mental Wellness (ICCMW of Hong Kong will be approached to join this program. Assuming conservatively, 60% ICCWM (14 centers) will respond and participate. At each site, a pair of intervention and control groups will be run. The targeted total sample size is 224. To investigate the course of changes in burnout and engagement, each group will last 6 months, including 3-month intervention and 3-month follow-up. Measures will be taken at monthly intervals.DiscussionIn light of literature and the pilot trial’s findings, participants in the Brief Daily BMS intervention group are expected to have a reduced burnout level and a narrowing of range in work engagement during the 3 months intervention. And within the 3 months post-intervention period, a rebound of burnout level and a widening of range in work engagement are expected to be observed in the same group of participants. Hopefully, this study will contribute to the deeper understanding of burnout and work engagement, and shed light on sustainable intervention for emotionally demanding workplaces.Clinical Trial RegistrationThe trial has been registered in the Clinical Trials Centre of the University of Hong Kong. HKUCTR-2763 Registered 27 December 2019 – Retrospectively registered, http://www.hkuctr.com/Study/Show/eb930d24e2c647afb7a922055163f24b.
Highlights
Given the emotional demanding nature of social services, we developed a brief daily body-mind-spirit (BMS) program and successfully piloted it with workers at elderly services
The proposed study focuses on community mental health workers who are often under chronic stress and vulnerable to burnout
Within the 3 months post-intervention period, a rebound of burnout level and a widening of range in work engagement are expected to be observed in the same group of participants
Summary
Given the emotional demanding nature of social services, we developed a brief daily body-mind-spirit (BMS) program and successfully piloted it with workers at elderly services. The proposed study focuses on community mental health workers who are often under chronic stress and vulnerable to burnout. Community Mental Health Workers in Need of Continued Emotional Support. Work burnout is identified with three elements: cynicism, exhaustion and reduced efficacy (Maslach et al, 2001). In positions where job demands/resources matching is strained, employees often experience chronic stress and are vulnerable to burnout (Schaufeli and Bakker, 2004). Prolonged intense work stress is associated with health and mental health problems (Sanderson and Andrews, 2006). The relentless demands for productivity and quality enhancement are both real strains and psychological stresses for workers
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