Compassion Project: Developing an Empathy-Based Stress Intervention
Trial statusNot yet recruiting
Trial phaseNot applicable
Trial typeInterventional
Biological sexAll
Age13+
SponsorUniversity of Bath
About this trial
Compassion is recognising that someone is suffering and wanting to help them. Compassion fatigue is a reduction in capacity to feel compassion for others. Secondary trauma is the experience of traumatic responses to hearing about someone else's trauma. Burnout is depersonalisation, emotional exhaustion, and feeling less good at one's job. Compassion fatigue, secondary trauma and burnout can all be referred to as empathy-based stress. This is a problem for healthcare staff and their patients.
Staff experiencing empathy-based stress deliver less high quality care, which can lead to serious consequences for patients. Empathy-based stress is also associated with staff sickness, which is bad for staff and costly to the United Kingdom's National Health Service (NHS).
Child and adolescent mental health (CAMHS) wards are busy, high-pressure environments where families and young people are often upset, resources are stretched, and staff are managing high levels of patient risk of self-harm or suicide.
The principal investigator has already reviewed research on empathy-based stress and interventions to prevent and/or reduce it in mental health ward staff. This evidence has been presented to CAMHS ward staff, managers, commissioners, patients and families and these stakeholders have co-designed an intervention for wards, to reduce empathy-based stress. The intervention aims to help staff to feel better and care better.
This pilot study aims to test and improve our intervention on two CAMHS wards, measuring how useful and well-liked it is, and how feasible it would be to use it and to test it on more wards. Staff on CAMHS wards will be offered a modular intervention including psychoeducation about empathy based stress and ways of combatting it, and workplace stressor and management toolkits. NHS CAMHS ward staff and patients will be asked to complete questionnaires and a subsample of staff will be asked to complete interviews about the process of the intervention.
Eligibility criteria
This trial accepts healthy volunteersQualifiers
Staff working on the 2 adolescent mental health ward sites at this time. All young people and parents/carers who are discharged during the time period of the intervention.
Disqualifiers
There are no exclusion criteria for staff. For young people who are inpatients on the ward and parents/carers of young people, an exclusion criteria would be if levels of English are such that questionnaires are inaccessible without reasonable adjustments and a supporting person is not available. We will strive to include all potential participants in the study if supporters are available to help an individual access the questionnaires.
Trial design
Design model
Sequential
Treatments tested in this trial
The Compassion Project: Intervention to Reduce Empathy-Based Stress in Staff
Other interventionSix month package of training and resources delivered to ward staff, including bite-sized audio, video and written materials. Face to face training will be provided weekly by a clinical psychologist. A staff group of 'compassion champions' will be responsible for embedding the intervention.
Treatment groups
100 Participants
are divided into 2 treatment groupsGroup A: Pilot Ward Site 1Experimental treatment 1 intervention
Group B: Pilot Ward Site 2Experimental treatment 1 intervention
Trial outcomes
Primary outcomes
1
Acceptability of intervention
Acceptability of Intervention Measure (AIM), with a minimum score of 1 and a maximum score of 15, with higher scores indicating greater acceptability.
Time frame
Month 3 and Month 62
Feasibility of intervention
Feasibility of Intervention Measure (FIM), with a minimum score of 1 and a maximum score of 20, with higher scores indicating greater perceived feasibility.
Time frame
Month 3 and Month 63
Perceived usefulness of intervention
Two perceived usefulness questions rated on a 5 point Likert scale where 1 is not useful and 5 is extremely useful
Time frame
Month 3 and Month 64
Feasibility of Study
Red/Amber/Green analysis of ward recruitment
Time frame
Conducted in month 6Secondary outcomes
1
Feasibility of assessing health economics data using a Health-related Quality of Life questionnaire
European Quality of Life 5 Dimensions 5 Level Version (EQ5D-5L) Questionnaire
Time frame
Month -1, 0, 3 and 62
Process measures to assess potential mechanisms of change
Knowledge about empathy-based stress questionnaire devised for the study (greater scores indicate greater knowledge) Mindful Attention and Awareness Scale (MAAS) (mean scores range from 1-6, with greater scores indicating greater mindfulness) Self-Compassion Scale (SCS) (minimum score is 1, maximum score is 60, with higher scores indicating more self compassion) Health and Safety Executive (HSE) Management Standards Questionnaire Questions about training Subsample of 15 qualitative interviews about process of the intervention
Time frame
Month -1, 0, 3 and 63
Feasibility of gathering young person and parent/carer data on compassionate care
A questionnaires relating to care will be administered to young people and parents/carers on discharge. This is the Sinclair compassion Questionnaire Short Form
Time frame
Given at discharge throughout the 6 months of the intervention4
Feasibility of gathering young person and parent/carer data on experience of service
Two questionnaires relating to care will be administered to young people and parents/carers on discharge. This is the Experience of Service Questionnaire.
Time frame
Given at discharge throughout the 6 months of the interventionOther outcomes
1
Ward-level contextual factors
Ward level contextual factors (e.g. number of incidents) will allow context to be understood and also capture any changes over the course of the intervention. Ward data will be gathered on ward caseload (ward occupancy), length of stay of patients, incidents on the ward, staff sickness, number of staff leaving. These will be collected using a data sheet filled in by ward modern matrons using readily available data
Time frame
Month -1, 0, 3 and 6Locations
Sponsors and contacts
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University of Bath
Lead sponsor
National Institute for Health Research, United Kingdom
Collaborator
Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust
Collaborator
Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust
Collaborator
Source ClinicalTrials.gov
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