A Randomized Controlled Trial of an 8-Week Mindfulness "Booster" Course for Staff: Examining Effectiveness, Mediators of Impact, and Participant Experiences
A Randomized Controlled Trial of an 8-Week Mindfulness "Booster" Course for Staff: Examining Effectiveness, Mediators of Impact, and Participant Experiences
The goal of this clinical trial is to learn if a mindfulness booster course can reduce stress in healthcare staff who have previously attended a mindfulness course. The main questions it aims to answer are:
Researchers will compare a mindfulness booster course with usual care to see if it helps to reduce stress. Participants will take part in either a mindfulness booster course or do what they usually do to look after their wellbeing. They will complete questionnaires at the beginning, middle and end of the study.
Aims:
Hypotheses:
a) The primary hypothesis is that we will see a significantly greater decrease in the primary outcome of perceived stress at post-intervention (the primary time-point of Weeks 11-12) relative to baseline (Weeks 0-1) for the 'mindfulness-booster course plus treatment as usual (TAU)' intervention group compared to the 'TAU-only' control group.
b) Our secondary hypothesis is that we will see significantly greater improvements in each of our secondary outcome measures at post-intervention (Weeks 11-12) relative to baseline for our intervention group compared to our control group. Improvements entail decreases in depression and burnout and increases in compassion for others and wellbeing.
c) Our third hypothesis is that we will also see the effects detailed in (1a) and (1b) above at the follow-up time-point (Weeks 19-20).
a) The relationship between group allocation (intervention vs. control) and reduction in perceived stress, from baseline to follow-up (Weeks 19-20), will be statistically mediated by changes from baseline to post-intervention in the following psychological constructs: i) increase in amount of mindfulness practice, both formal and informal; ii) reduction in rumination and worry, i.e., repetitive negative thinking; iii) increase in decentering; iv) increase in self-compassion; v) increase in trait mindfulness.
b) The relationships specified in Hypothesis 2a will also hold true for the secondary outcomes (i.e. change from baseline to follow-up [Weeks 19-20] in wellbeing, depression, burnout and compassion for others).
c) i) The relationship between group allocation and reduction in perceived stress will be serially statistically as follows: intervention group allocation predicts increased mindfulness practice (from baseline to post-intervention [Weeks 11-12]) which in turn predicts change in psychological mechanisms (i.e., rumination/worry, decentering, self-compassion and trait mindfulness; from baseline to post-intervention [Weeks 11-12]), which in turn predict reduced perceived stress (from baseline to follow-up [Weeks 19-20]).
ii) The relationships specified in Hypothesis 2c-i will also hold for the secondary outcomes (i.e. change from baseline to follow-up [Weeks 19-20] in wellbeing, depression, burnout and compassion for others).
Design Information Not Included Elsewhere in this Registration:
After Weeks 11-12, a subsample of intervention group participants will be invited to participate in a semi-structured individual interview, with the qualitative data being collected and analysed according to grounded theory principles. This aspect of the study has the following sub-aims:
Inclusion Criteria:
Exclusion Criteria: