Using Conversations, Listening and Leadership to Support Staff Wellness: The CALM Framework

TL;DR

This paper introduces the CALM Framework, a leadership-driven approach to improve healthcare workers' wellness through conversations, listening, and feedback mechanisms.

Contribution

The study introduces the CALM Framework to enhance leadership-driven wellness initiatives in healthcare.

Findings

Informal conversations and active listening foster trust and emotional well-being among healthcare workers.

Leadership engagement helps escalate issues, but feedback mechanisms need improvement.

Only 32.5% of healthcare workers believed feedback was effectively addressed despite 77.5% feeling able to escalate concerns.

Abstract

Healthcare workers’ (HCWs) wellness is a critical concern, particularly following the COVID-19 pandemic. Staff Wellness Rounding (SWR) has emerged as a leadership-driven strategy to support HCWs but research on its effectiveness remains limited. This study examines the impact of SWR within a large healthcare organisation in Australia and introduces the CALM (Conversation, Active Listening, Leadership Engagement, Mechanism for Feedback) Framework to enhance leadership-driven wellness initiatives. SWR was implemented across six acute hospitals and 14 community health centres in New South Wales, Australia (July to October 2021). A sequential mixed-methods design was used to evaluate SWR effectiveness, leadership engagement, and key components for a structured wellness approach. Phase One included a survey of 169 HCWs to capture their experiences, and Phase Two and Three comprised semi-structured interviews with SWR leaders, participants of SWR and analysis of 342 SWR records. Findings showed that informal conversations foster trust, active listening supports emotional well-being, and leadership engagement facilitates issue escalation. However, feedback mechanisms require improvement: 77.5% of HCWs felt able to escalate concerns but only 32.5% believed feedback was effectively addressed. These insights directly informed the development of the CALM Framework with implications for leadership training and digital wellness integration in healthcare settings.

Figures