Research Evaluating Staff Training Online for Resilience (RESTORE):  Protocol for a single-arm feasibility study of an online Acceptance and Commitment Therapy intervention to improve staff wellbeing in palliative care settings

TL;DR

This study tests an online therapy program to improve mental health for palliative care workers.

Contribution

The study evaluates the feasibility of an online Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) intervention for palliative care staff.

Findings

The study will assess recruitment, retention, and participant feedback on an 8-week online ACT intervention.

Findings will guide future research on improving wellbeing for palliative care workers.

Mixed methods will evaluate both quantitative and qualitative outcomes of the intervention.

Abstract

Palliative care workers commonly experience workplace stress and distress. General stressors include unmanageable workloads and staff shortages. Stressors specific to palliative care include regular exposure to death, loss and grief. The COVID pandemic exacerbated exhaustion and burnout across the healthcare system, including for those providing palliative care. Evidence based psychological support interventions, tailored to the needs and context of palliative care workers, are needed. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is an established form of cognitive behavioural therapy which uses behavioural psychology, values, acceptance, and mindfulness techniques to improve mental health and wellbeing. ACT is effective in improving workplace wellbeing in many occupational settings. Our study examines the acceptability and feasibility of an online ACT-based intervention to improve mental health and wellbeing in staff caring for people with an advanced progressive illness.

A single-arm feasibility trial. We will seek to recruit 30 participants to take part in an 8- week online ACT-based intervention, consisting of three synchronous facilitated group sessions and five asynchronous self-directed learning modules. We will use convergent mixed methods to evaluate the feasibility of the intervention. Quantitative feasibility outcomes will include participant recruitment and retention rates, alongside completion rates of measures assessing stress, quality of life, wellbeing, and psychological flexibility. Focus groups and interviews will explore participant perspectives on the intervention. We will run a stakeholder workshop to further refine the intervention and identify outcomes for use in a future evaluation.

We will describe participant perspectives on intervention acceptability, format, content, and perceived impact alongside rates of intervention recruitment, retention, and outcome measure completion.

We will show whether a brief, online ACT intervention is acceptable to, and feasible for palliative care workers. Findings will be used to further refine the intervention and provide essential information on outcome assessment prior to a full-scale evaluation.

Palliative care workers commonly experience workplace stress and distress. General stressors include unmanageable workloads and staff shortages. Stressors specific to palliative care include regular exposure to death, loss and grief. The COVID pandemic increased exhaustion and burnout across the healthcare system, including for workers providing palliative care. An introduction to psychological therapies for professionals caring for people with a terminal illness may improve workplace wellbeing. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is an established form of cognitive behavioural therapy which uses behavioural psychology, values, acceptance, and mindfulness techniques to improve mental health and wellbeing. ACT is effective in improving workplace wellbeing in many occupational settings though has not yet been evaluated with hospice staff. Our study will examines whether a brief ACT intervention, delivered online, is helpful to hospice staff, and research on this can be carried out.

We will seek to recruit 30 hospice staff participants to take part in an 8-week online ACT-based intervention, consisting of three online in-person group sessions and five self-directed learning modules. We will gather date from a range of sources, including questionnaires and focus groups, to work out whether there is value in this type of intervention.

We will describe participant views on the intervention, what worked and what needs to be refined; alongside data on the number of people interested in participating and of those the proportion completing the intervention.

We will show whether a brief, online ACT intervention can potentially improve wellbeing for palliative care workers, and can be evaluated in future studies. Findings will be used to further refine the intervention and provide essential information for future research.