Effectiveness of Interventions to Improve Resiliency & Burnout in Behavioral Health Residential Staff

Summary

The goal of this clinical trial is to compare Integrated Resiliency Training and Task Sharing (IRTTS) to Workplace Improvement Learning Collaborative (WILC) in group homes for adults with serious mental illness and/or intellectual and developmental disabilities. The main questions it aims to answer are:

* Is IRTTS superior to WILC in improving residential care worker (RCW) resiliency; stress management and burnout; depression and anxiety; and positive health behaviors?
* Is IRTTS superior to WILC in improving RCW turnover/retention; RCW sick days/absenteeism; and group home safety and resident incidents?
* What are the barriers, facilitators, and resources required to successfully implement IRTTS and WILC?

Participants may engage in training sessions, collaborate with residents and other RCWs in their group homes, attend meetings with RCWs from other group homes, complete surveys, participate in focus groups, and/or give qualitative interviews.

Researchers will compare IRTTS to WILC to see which intervention should be implemented to achieve the greatest improvement in RCW resiliency and greatest reduction in burnout and turnover in group homes for adults with serious mental illness and/or developmental and intellectual disabilities.

Conditions

• Burnout
• Stress
• Coping Skills
• Depression
• Anxiety
• Physical Inactivity
• Sleep
• Healthy Eating

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Resiliency Training

The Stress Management and Resiliency Training: Relaxation Response Resiliency Program (SMART-3RP) has been shown to be effective in improving resilience and reducing distress among individuals across different populations and settings. The SMART-3RP enhances resilience by 1) teaching tools to elicit the relaxation response (RR) to offset negative effects of chronic stress; 2) improving stress management and awareness; and 3) promoting growth enhancement and agency to effect positive change. It blends stress coping principles from mind-body, cognitive-behavioral, and positive psychology theory to teach skills to advance each of these resiliency processes. The training will be delivered in six 50-minute virtual group sessions with 2 optional "booster sessions" available for those who desire additional sessions to further consolidate the core resiliency skills.

BEHAVIORAL

Task Sharing

Task Sharing is a process involving health care workers in partnership with others in which workers retain many of their primary tasks, but some tasks are completed collaboratively or by other workers or volunteers in a shared effort. Study coaches will work with the group home directors and RCWs to identify shared tasks that may be conducted by peers or resident volunteers by task co-assignment with supervision and support. Task co-assignments will be discussed in routine house meetings occurring on a weekly basis and incorporated into a jointly developed "house plan". The house plan will engage staff and residents to identify shared activities to reduce the burden on RCWs through task co-assignment and team-based efforts aimed at tasks that create unnecessary burden and stress for RCWs, yet do not require RCWs to complete them.

BEHAVIORAL

Workplace Improvement Learning Collaborative

The Workplace Improvement Learning Collaborative (WILC) consists of identifying major sources of RCW burnout across the system and then instituting an organizational (agency-wide) measure to address the identified sources of burnout by restructuring tasks (e.g., reducing administrative burdens, increasing workflow efficiencies) through a virtual earning collaborative with group home leaders. Learning collaboratives commonly use a structured framework within which teams learn about research and best practices, apply quality-improvement methods, and exchange their experiences in making improvements with the widespread use of such collaboratives. Program Directors will participate in a learning collaborative facilitated by trained and certified study coaches to identify and collaboratively develop and implement effective strategies to address root causes of RCW burnout across group homes and program directors assigned to the WILC intervention.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute

  collaborator OTHER

• Vinfen

  collaborator INDUSTRY

• Bay Cove Human Services

  collaborator OTHER

• Massachusetts General Hospital

  lead OTHER

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

HEALTH_SERVICES_RESEARCH

Masking

DOUBLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2023-03-01

Primary Completion

2028-02-28

Completion

2028-02-28

Countries

• United States

Study Locations