Newswise — A fresh analysis discovered that aiding healthcare staff in managing job-induced strain can enhance their stress-handling capacities for as long as twelve months. The examination evaluates prior studies and extends the findings of a 2015 study that yielded comparable outcomes. The investigation indicates that measures like cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) and mental as well as physical relaxation methods may assist in curtailing stress levels for healthcare professionals.
The analysis evaluated 117 research studies that investigated various interventions' effectiveness in decreasing stress levels, with 89 being recent publications between 2013 and 2022. These studies comprised 11,119 healthcare practitioners worldwide, who were randomly allocated to different interventions, and their stress levels were evaluated using surveys. The researchers scrutinized the interventions' impact on stress symptoms in the near-term (up to three months post-intervention), mid-term (between three and 12 months), and long-term (over one year after the intervention).
The Cochrane analysis examined interventions designed to alleviate stress in healthcare practitioners at the individual level, which could either address stress directly or divert attention away from it. The interventions encompassed cognitive-behavioral training, communication proficiency, assertiveness training, relaxation, mindfulness meditation, physical exercise, massage therapy, acupuncture, and music therapy. The objective of the review was to ascertain whether any of these interventions were superior to no intervention in diminishing stress levels.
The healthcare practitioners who took part in the studies reported feeling stressed and exhausted, although their stress levels were not acute. This stress may lead to physical symptoms such as headaches or muscle tension, as well as mental symptoms like anxiety, depression, and impaired concentration, and could also impact their relationships.
According to Sietske Tamminga, the lead author of the study and an assistant professor in Public and Occupational Health at Amsterdam University Medical Centre, healthcare workers are frequently exposed to stressful and emotionally challenging circumstances in their work. They may confront patient suffering, face pressures from relationships with patients, family members, and employers, as well as high work demands and long working hours.
Sietske Tamminga, who spearheaded the research, noted that healthcare practitioners confront a significant amount of stress and emotional difficulties in their line of work, including patient care, human suffering, and excessive work demands. The study revealed that individual-level interventions like cognitive-behavioral training, physical exercise, and music therapy could assist healthcare workers in reducing their stress levels. This could prove advantageous not just for healthcare practitioners but also for the patients they attend to and the organizations they serve. The impact of these interventions may last up to a year, and a blend of interventions might be useful in the short term. Tamminga suggests that employers should provide various stress interventions for their personnel, but it remains unclear if the effects of stress management interventions endure in the long run.
The researchers emphasize the necessity for more extensive and high-quality studies to investigate the short- and long-term outcomes of individual-level interventions, to enhance the confidence of the evidence.
Dr. Tamminga recommends further investigation into interventions that target work-related risk factors at both individual and organizational levels. While individual-level interventions may assist in alleviating stress, improving working conditions could have a more considerable long-term effect. Employers may tackle concerns like understaffing, excessive workload, and shift patterns to prevent stress and burnout among healthcare practitioners. Instead of only addressing the symptoms, it is crucial to address the root risk factors to bring about lasting improvements.
The research has a few limitations. Firstly, the estimates of the effects of individual-level stress management interventions may not be entirely reliable due to the absence of blinding of the participants in the studies included in the review. Moreover, many of the studies were small, which could affect the robustness of the results. Finally, there were insufficient studies that concentrated on specific factors that can cause stress in the workplace, which constrains the applicability of the findings.
The Cochrane review is distinctive since it offers a comprehensive summary of various intervention types aimed at reducing stress in multiple healthcare worker groups. Prior research has concentrated on certain intervention types in specific healthcare worker subsets. Therefore, this review broadens our understanding of the effectiveness of different interventions and their applicability to various healthcare worker groups.
‘Dr Tamminga's conclusion is that "Prevention of stress and burnout is critical since there is already a shortage of healthcare workers due to high turnover rates, and effective stress management interventions may aid in reducing this." In other words, reducing stress and burnout in healthcare workers could be a critical step in retaining staff and addressing the existing workforce shortage in the healthcare industry.
RSS