Efeito da terapia floral na fadiga por compaixão em residentes de enfermagem: estudo piloto / Flower therapy effect on the quality of professional life in nursing residents: pilot study

Introdução: O residente de enfermagem está exposto a estresses e desgastes que impactam em sua qualidade de vida profissional. Nesse sentido, as práticas integrativas e complementares de saúde podem contribuir para promover o bem-estar físico, mental e espiritual. Objetivo: Verificar o efeito da terapia floral nos componentes da qualidade de vida profissional (fadiga por compaixão - Burnout e Estresse Traumático Secundário - e satisfação por compaixão) em residentes de enfermagem no contexto da pandemia de COVID-19. Metodologia: Estudo piloto quase-experimental do tipo antes e depois, com 16 enfermeiros residentes de hospitais de ensino, que responderam um questionário sociodemográfico e uma escala Professional Quality of Life Scale 4 (ProQOL-4), e utilizaram a fórmula emergencial associada ao Walnut dos Florais de Bach (FiveW) por três semanas com follow up após três semanas. Os dados foram analisados descritivamente e o efeito da intervenção pelo teste t-Student e pelo modelo de efeitos mistos, com nível de significância de 5%. Resultados: A terapia floral auxiliou na redução do escore da subescala Estresse Traumático Secundário do ProQOL-4 (p=0,017), com efeito residual após o follow up. Houve interação do ano da residência e especialidade do programa nas subescalas Satisfação por Compaixão e Burnout; e área de especialização da residência e adoecimento de pessoa próxima por COVID-19 no Estresse Traumático Secundário e Burnout (p<0,05). Conclusão: A fórmula floral FiveW mostrou redução dos escores do Estresse Traumático Secundário, evidenciando que a terapia floral pode contribuir como estratégia complementar para melhora da qualidade de vida profissional.

Introducción: La persona residente de enfermería está expuesta a situaciones estresantes que impactan en su calidad de vida profesional. En ese sentido, las prácticas de salud integradoras y complementarias pueden contribuir a promover el bienestar físico, mental y espiritual. Objetivo: Verificar el efecto de la terapia con esencias florales sobre los componentes de la calidad de vida profesional (fatiga por compasión -burnout y estrés traumático secundario- y satisfacción por compasión) en población residente de enfermería en el contexto de la pandemia por COVID-19. Metodología: Estudio piloto cuasiexperimental antes y después de un solo grupo, con 16 personas enfermeras residentes de hospitales universitarios, que respondieron un cuestionario sociodemográfico y la Escala de Calidad de Vida Profesional 4 (ProQOL-4). Además, utilizaron la fórmula de emergencia asociada al Walnut de los remedios florales de Bach (FiveW), durante tres semanas, con un seguimiento de tres semanas. Los datos fueron analizados descriptivamente y el efecto de la intervención por la prueba t-Student pareada y por el modelo de efectos mixtos, con un nivel de significación del 5 %. Resultados: La terapia floral ayudó a reducir la puntuación de la subescala de Estrés Traumático Secundario del ProQOL-4 (p=0.017) con un efecto residual después del seguimiento. Hubo interacción entre el año de residencia y la especialidad del programa en las subescalas Satisfacción por Compasión y Burnout, así como entre especialidad del programa y enfermedad por COVID-19 de una persona allegada en Estrés Traumático Secundario y Burnout (p<0.05). Conclusión: La fórmula floral FiveW mostró reducción en las puntuaciones de estrés traumático secundario, lo que demuestra que la terapia floral puede contribuir como un manejo complementario para mejorar la calidad de vida profesional.

Introduction: The nursing resident is exposed to stressful situations that impact the quality of their professional life. Integrative and complementary health practices can contribute to promoting physical, mental, and spiritual well-being. Objective: To evaluate the effect of flower essence therapy on the aspects of the professional quality of life (compassion fatigue - burnout and secondary traumatic stress - and compassion satisfaction) of nursing residents in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: Quasi-experimental pilot before and after study with 16 resident nurses from teaching hospitals, who answered a sociodemographic questionnaire and the Professional Quality of Life Scale 4 (ProQOL-4). The emergency formula associated with Walnut of the Bach Flower Remedies (FiveW) was used for three weeks with a three-week follow-up. Data were analyzed descriptively. The effect of the intervention was evaluated by the paired Student's t-test and by the mixed effects model, with a significance level of 5%. Results: Floral therapy reduced the score of the Secondary Traumatic Stress subscale of ProQOL-4 (p=0.017) with a residual effect after the follow-up. There was interaction between the year of residency and the program specialty in the Satisfaction for Compassion and Burnout subscales; and also between the program specialty and the COVID-19 infection of a close person in the Secondary Traumatic Stress and Burnout subscales (p<0.05). Conclusion: The FiveW floral formula showed a reduction in Secondary Traumatic Stress scores, evidencing that floral therapy can contribute as a complementary strategy to improve the quality of professional life.

Intervention for job burnout reduction among a sample of Nigerian lecturers.

BACKGROUND: One of the major issues facing Nigerian university lecturers is job burnout. In the current study, Nigerian university history lecturers were examined in respect of job burnout prior to and after an online psychological intervention that followed the rational emotive behavior therapy (REBT) principles and practice. METHODS: In this study, a group randomized controlled trial approach was used, and only 80 university history lecturers with high burnout levels were included. We had 40 history lecturers participating in an online intervention group and 40 history lecturers participating in the control group. A questionnaire - Oldenburg Burnout Inventory - was used to collect data about job burnout. RESULTS: After the history lecturers underwent the online psychological intervention (online REBT), significant reductions in mean job burnout were recorded (F(1, 78) = 5756.11; P < .001). Findings show a statistically significant effects of time on burnout scores of history lecturers [F(2156) = 1323.69, P < .001, ω2 = 0.92]. There was also a significant group and time interaction effect on the participants' burnout scores [F(2156) = 1323.69, P < .001, ω2 = 0.91]. CONCLUSION: University history lecturers can benefit from online psychological intervention that targets job burnout reduction. The current study paves way for future studies to validate the efficacy of online REBT intervention among other employees who struggle with burnout problem.

Burnout and Mental Interventions among Youth Athletes: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of the Studies.

(1) Background: The subject of athlete burnout is often discussed among sports psychologists. Interventions to reduce this phenomenon are still under investigation with follow-ups. Thus, the purpose of the current meta-analysis is to examine psychological interventions that was carried out to decrease or eliminate burnout syndrome in young athletes. (2) Methods: Scientific electronic databases were searched, and five published studies published between January and June 2022 that met the criteria were selected. The systematic review and meta-analyses followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. The Cochrane collaboration tool for assessing the risk of bias was used to assess the studies' quality. Metafor, a package of the R statistical program, was used to perform the analysis. (3) Results: Cognitive behavioral therapy- and mindfulness-based interventions effectively reduced most dimensions of burnout. Moreover, online interventions were significantly more beneficial in this reduction. (4) Conclusions: There should be more high-quality studies on the effectiveness of psychological interventions in reducing burnout, mainly because it leads to tremendous physical and psychological problems for athletes and their coaches; therefore, it requires particular interventions and prevention strategies.

Academic burnout among undergraduate history students: Effect of an intervention.

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to examine the effect of an online psychological intervention on academic burnout of undergraduate history students in Nigeria. METHOD: The sample for the study consists of burned-out undergraduate history students selected randomly from public universities. A total of 18 undergraduate history students with moderate to high burnout symptoms were randomly allocated to the online intervention group, while 17 were randomly assigned to the waitlist control group. RESULTS: The use of online rational emotive behavior therapy (online REBT) effectively reduced academic burnout and sustained this significant reduction among Nigerian undergraduate history students compared with a waitlist control condition. CONCLUSION: Online rational emotive behavior therapy intervention delivered to undergraduate history students brought about a significant decrease in academic burnout. Further studies should expand the benefits of online psychological intervention for burnout treatment among Nigerian undergraduate history students.

Exploring the effectiveness of a specialized therapy programme for burnout using subjective report and biomarkers of stress.

The increasing prevalence of stress-related disorders such as burnout urges the need for specialized treatment approaches. Programmes combining psychotherapy and regenerative interventions emerge to be the most successful. However, evaluated therapy programmes are scarce and usually involve subjective symptom quantification without consideration of physiologic parameters. The aim of the present exploratory, single-group study was the multimodal investigation of the effectiveness of a specialized holistic therapy programme by assessing symptoms and biological markers of chronic stress. Seventy-one in-patients (39 men/32 women; age 46.8 ± 9.9 years) of a specialized burnout ward with the additional diagnosis of burnout (Z73.0) in conjunction with a main diagnosis of depressive disorder (F32 or F33) according to the International Classification of Diseases (ICD)-10 were included in the study. In addition to symptomatology, the stress-responsive biomarkers heart rate variability (HRV) and serum brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) were measured in patients at admittance to and discharge from the burnout ward applying a 6-week specialized treatment programme. At discharge, patients showed a significant reduction of symptom burden and a significant increase in serum BDNF, while HRV remained unchanged. The findings implicate that the therapy programme may have beneficial effects on symptomatology and neuroplasticity of patients with burnout. As therapy was often supplemented by psychopharmacological treatment, a relevant influence of antidepressant medication especially on BDNF has to be considered.

Effect of digital storytelling intervention on burnout thoughts of adolescent: Athletes with disabilities.

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVE: Both athletes with and without disabilities can develop burnout symptoms. However, athletes with disabilities may face different or more challenges compared to their counterparts without disabilities. The present study aimed at ascertaining the effect of digital storytelling intervention on burnout thoughts of adolescent-athletes with disabilities. METHOD: This study is a randomized controlled trial involving a total of 171 adolescent-athletes with disabilities who showed a high degree of burnout symptoms. These adolescent-athletes were randomly assigned to either an intervention group (n = 85) or a waitlisted control group (n = 86). The treatment intervention for the adolescent-athletes was digital stories which were created based on the framework of rational emotive behaviour therapy (REBT). The Athlete Burnout Questionnaire was used for gathering of data at three different times (baseline, post-test and follow up). Data were analyzed using repeated measure analysis of variance at a significant level of 0.05. RESULTS: Results showed that the digital storytelling intervention based on REBT significantly reduced burnout thoughts among disabled adolescent-athletes in the intervention group compared to athletes in the waitlisted control group as measured by the Athlete Burnout Questionnaire. Additionally, at follow-up evaluation, it was observed that the decrease in burnout scores was maintained by those athletes in the digital storytelling intervention. CONCLUSION: Digital storytelling intervention based on rational emotive behaviour therapy shows great potentials in addressing burnout among adolescent-athletes with disabilities.

Selected Musculoskeletal Issues in Adolescents.

Musculoskeletal care of the adolescent patient involves unique knowledge of their rapidly changing physical and psychological health. In this article, the importance of preventing early sports specialization is elucidated, and an encouragement of the safety and necessity of resistance training in adolescents is undertaken. It also explores two common conditions, one affecting the immature skeleton (apophysitis), and one affecting the improperly developed muscular system (patellofemoral syndrome), both of which are diagnosed clinically, and require little advanced imaging. Finally, a brief overview of relative energy deficiency in sport is given.

Could recruiting former college athletes be the answer to less pharmacy student burnout?

INTRODUCTION: Student pharmacists are in a notable wellness deficit. Pharmacy organizations are issuing statements and providing resources addressing efforts to increase student wellness. This commentary suggests that institutions refocus recruiting efforts on students with experience balancing the demands of school, wellness, and mental health. PERSPECTIVE: The purpose of this commentary is to start the conversation on increasing efforts to recruit candidates who already possess the resilience needed to perform in pharmacy school, with a focus on former college athletes. This piece in no way suggests decreased attention on wellness programs or efforts to reduce burnout. Former student athletes, through their training, have increased experience in resilience and may be less at risk for burnout. These candidates will likely have an increased team mentality and acceptance of constructive criticism. Additionally, this is an untapped resource for candidates as only 2% of collegiate athletes pursuing professional athletic careers. Of the 140 accredited pharmacy schools, 82.9% have an undergraduate program that offers at least one National Collegiate Athletic Association sport. IMPLICATIONS: Schools of pharmacy should consider additional recruitment efforts and admissions criteria weight for former student athletes who meet the same standards as other candidates. As many pharmacy faculty direct significant effort toward the prevention of student burnout, perhaps an additional approach is to recruit students who are already capable of the expected demands. The athletic community may answer both the need for additional pharmacy recruits and provide a cohort with advanced abilities in stress management, wellness, and teamwork.

The effect of mindfulness training on burnout syndrome in nursing: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

AIM: To analyse the effect of mindfulness training on levels of burnout among nurses. BACKGROUND: Burnout syndrome is a common occupational hazard for nursing staff. Mindfulness training has been proposed as a valid intervention for burnout. DESIGN: Systematic review and meta-analysis. DATA SOURCES: The CINAHL, LILACS, Medline, ProQuest, PsycINFO, Scielo and Scopus databases were consulted, using the search equation 'Nurs * AND burnout AND mindfulness'. There was no restriction on the year of publication. REVIEW METHODS: Papers were selected for analysis in accordance with the PRISMA guidelines. The meta-analysis was carried out using Review Manager 5.3 software. RESULTS: The sample was of 17 articles including 632 nurses. Mindfulness training reduces levels of burnout, producing lower scores for emotional exhaustion and depersonalization and higher for personal accomplishment. The differences in the means were 1.32 (95% CI: -9.41-6.78), 1.91 (95% CI: -4.50-0.68) and 2.12 (95% CI: -9.91-14.14), respectively, between the intervention and control groups. CONCLUSION: Mindfulness training reduces the emotional burden and hence levels of burnout, among nurses. However, further randomized clinical trials are required.

Predictors of outcome in guided self-help cognitive behavioural therapy for common mental disorders in primary care.

Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) can effectively treat common mental disorders (CMDs), but access to treatment is insufficient. Guided self-help (GSH) CBT has shown effects comparable to face-to-face CBT and may be a resource-efficient treatment alternative. However, not all patients respond to GSH. Learning more about predictors of outcome may increase knowledge regarding which patients respond to GSH. The aim of this study was to investigate predictors of outcome for GSH CBT for patients with CMDs in primary care. Consecutive patients (N = 396) with a principal disorder of depression, anxiety, insomnia or stress-related disorders were included. All patients received GSH CBT. Outcomes were remission status, reliable change and post-treatment depression ratings. Predictors investigated were clinical, demographic and therapy-related variables. Analyses were conducted using logistic and linear regression. Higher educational level predicted remission, higher quality of life ratings predicted remission and decreased depression, and higher age at onset predicted reliable change. Therapy-related variables, i.e. patient adherence to treatment and patients' and clinicians' estimation of treatment response, were all related to outcome. More large-scale studies are needed, but the present study points at the importance of therapy-related variables such as monitoring and supporting treatment adherence for an increased chance of remission.

Investigation of burnout syndrome among electrical and building technology undergraduate students in Nigeria.

BACKGROUND: The investigation of burnout among undergraduate students is yet to receive the same amount of attention as burnout in employees. Despite the negative effects of burnout among students, there is dearth of literature on burnout problem among electrical and building technology undergraduate students. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the burnout levels and the effect of rational-emotive behavior therapy (REBT) on symptoms of burnout among electrical and building technology undergraduate students in South-East zone of Nigeria. METHOD: A group randomized trial design involving a treatment group versus no-treatment group was adopted for this study. One hundred fifty four undergraduate students of electrical and building technology who met the study's inclusion criteria were selected from public universities in the South-East zone of Nigeria. The intervention consisted of 10 weeks of REBT treatment and 8 weeks of follow-up meetings conducted at 4 months. A self-report questionnaire was used for data collection. Repeated-measures analysis of variance, paired sample t test, and Chi-Squared were used for data analysis. RESULTS: The outcome indicated that the levels of burnout syndrome among the students are high and REBT had a significant effect on the symptoms of burnout syndrome among the electrical and building technology students in the treatment group compared to their counterparts in the no-treatment group. Finally, the positive gains were significantly maintained by the treatment group at follow-up. CONCLUSION: The current study suggests that an REBT program can be effective for dealing with burnout syndrome among the population of undergraduate students of electrical and building technology in Nigeria.

What Is Underlying Resident Burnout in Urology and What Can Be Done to Address this?

Physician burnout-a constellation of depersonalization, emotional exhaustion, reduced feelings of personal attachment, and a low sense of accomplishment-is a term that has been around since the 1980s. Burnout rates among residents and fellows are higher than medical students, attending physicians, and age-matched college graduates, with rates ranging from 40-80% of trainees across subspecialties. Unfortunately, burnout among residents and trainees has been linked to lower scores on in-service examinations for internal medicine residents as well as poorer overall health and exercise habits. The purpose of this review is to quantify the extent of burnout among urology residents and examine effective techniques and measures to prevent burnout and practically what can be done to combat this growing epidemic.

The emotional and psychological burden of the "burnout" in families of psychiatric patients.

People, who assist patients with chronic health problems for work, voluntary or for family reasons, may be affected by burnout. This is defined as an excessive reaction to stress caused by one's environment that may be characterized by feelings of emotional and physical exhaustion, coupled with a sense of frustration and failure. A person who assists a suffering person, beyond the professional role, is indicated generally by the term "caregiver". The definition of Burnout in families is fairly recent, because the psychology of trauma has ignored a large segment of traumatized and disabled subjects (family and other assistants of "suffering people") unwittingly, for a long time. The burnout of secondary stress is due to one's empathic ability, actions trough disengagement, and a sense of satisfaction from helping to relieve suffering. Figley (1995) claims that being a member of a family or other type of intimate or bonded interpersonal relationship, one feels the others' pain. Closely associated with the suffering of the family caregiver is the concept of compassion fatigue, defined as a state of exhaustion and disfunction-biologically, psychologically, and socially - as a result of prolonged exposure to compassion stress and all that it evokes. In families, this can be the cause of serious conflicts and problems, quarrels, verbal and physical aggression, and broken relationships. The intervention on families requires practice and effectiveness approaches performed by experienced professionals. Some approaches focus more specifically, such as those that adopt a cognitive/behavioural technique with direct exposure, implosion methods, various drug treatments and family group psychotherapy. One of the most common models of intervention is based on the principle that the observation unit for the understanding of the disorder is not the single individual but the relationship between individuals.

Intervention for burnout among English education undergraduates: implications for curriculum innovation.

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVE: The present study investigated the effect of Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) intervention on burnout among English education undergraduates in southeastern Nigeria. METHOD: The study adopted a randomized controlled trial design. A total of 96 English education undergraduates with high burnout symptoms in the participating universities took part in the study. These were randomly assigned to groups - intervention group (n = 48) and control group (n = 48). The Oldenburg Burnout Inventory for students (OLBI-S) was used for data collection. The collected data were analyzed using 2-way mixed repeated measure ANOVA at .05 probability level. RESULT: Results showed that the REBT program significantly reduced the burnout level among English education undergraduates in the intervention group compared to the students in the no-intervention control group as measured by the OLBI-S subscales. Also, the students who benefited from the REBT program maintained reduced burnout levels when the researchers conducted a follow-up. CONCLUSION: Given the present finding, the REBT program is an effective intervention for preventing and managing burnout among students. The present study has important curriculum innovation implications as far as English education is concerned especially in the Nigerian context. This intervention program can be included in the students' curriculum activities so as to equip the students with necessary therapeutic skills to manage burnout symptoms presently and in the future.

Mediators of Change in Cognitive Behavior Therapy for Clinical Burnout.

Evidence supporting the effectiveness of cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) for stress-related illness is growing, but little is known about its mechanisms of change. The aim of this study was to investigate potential mediators of CBT for severe stress in form of clinical burnout, using an active psychological treatment as comparator. We used linear mixed models to analyze data from patients (N = 82) with clinical burnout who received either CBT or another psychological treatment in a randomized controlled trial. Potential mediators (i.e., sleep quality, behavioral activation, perceived competence, and therapeutic alliance) and outcome (i.e., symptoms of burnout) were assessed weekly during treatment. The results showed that the positive treatment effects on symptoms of burnout favoring CBT (estimated between-group d = 0.93) were mediated by improvements in sleep quality, ab = -0.017, 95% CIasymmetric [-0.037, -0.002], and increase in perceived competence, ab = -0.037, 95% CIasymmetric [-0.070, -0.010]. Behavioral activation, ab = -0.004 [-0.016, 0.007], and therapeutic alliance, ab = 0.002 [-0.006, 0.011], did not significantly mediate the difference in effects between the treatments. Improving sleep quality and increasing perceived competence may thus constitute important process goals in order to attain symptom reduction in CBT for clinical burnout.

Mindfulness and Athlete Burnout: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Objective: This review aims to identify, appraise, and synthesize studies reporting the relationship between mindfulness and athlete burnout and the effects of mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) on athlete burnout. Methods: Studies were identified through searching six electronic databases using combinations of three groups of keywords and manual search. Two independent reviewers screened the searched studies, extracted data of the included studies, and assessed the study quality. The extracted data were synthesized qualitatively and quantitatively. Results: Ten studies consisting of two controlled trials, six surveys, and two interview studies met the inclusion criteria. The two controlled trials had weak methodological quality, and the remaining studies were of moderate to high research quality. Results of controlled trials and interview research generally showed that MBIs had positive effects in burnout prevention. Meta-analytic results indicated a negative association between mindfulness and burnout. Conclusions: There is some evidence showing that mindfulness was negatively associated with athlete burnout. However, given the small number of interventions and qualitative studies, there is limited evidence on whether MBIs are useful in preventing athlete burnout. More studies are needed to corroborate these findings.