Well-being Workshop for Burnout and Distress

Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of a workshop intervention to promote wellbeing for Australian physician trainees using a randomized-controlled design.

Methods: Participants were randomly assigned into intervention and control groups. The intervention group attended a half-day workshop. Outcome measures included depression anxiety stress scale, professional quality of life scale and alcohol use disorders identification test. Demographic and work/life factors were measured. Measurements were recorded at baseline, 3 and 6 months, and the workshop was evaluated by participants.

Results: High rates of burnout (76%) and secondary traumatic stress (91%) were detected among study participants and around half met screening criteria for depression (52%), anxiety (46%) and stress (50%) at baseline. Workshop evaluations showed that participants agreed that the training was relevant to their needs (96%) and met their expectations (92%). There was a small reduction in alcohol use, depression and burnout in the intervention group compared with the control group at 6 months, but these changes did not reach statistical significance.

Conclusion: High rates of psychological morbidity detected in the study suggest that physician trainees are a vulnerable group who may benefit from initiatives that promote wellbeing and changes in the workplace to reduce distress.

Rank: 52

First Author: Axisa

Outcome: Stress,Emot. Exhaust./Comp. Fatig.,Depression,Anxiety,Burnout

Outcome p-value: Stress:●, Emotional Exhaustion/Compassion Fatigue:●, Depression:●, Anxiety:●, Burnout:●

Intervention Category: Health Literacy and Anti-Stigma,Coping Skills Development

Time per Employee (hours): 4.5

Hours per Employee: 5

D&B Study Quality Rating: 16

Reviewer Confidence: 3.5

Country: Australia

Study Design Type: RCT

Materials Available to Implement: Workshops were facilitated by specialist clinicians who received specific training to facilitate the workshops. Corresponding author: carmen.axisa@uts.edu.au.

Organiz./Individ. Focus: Individual

Prevention Category: Primary,Secondary

Effect size Small:

Effect size Medium:

Reference: Axisa, Carmen, Louise Nash, Patrick Kelly, and Simon Willcock. “Burnout and Distress in Australian Physician Trainees: Evaluation of a Wellbeing Workshop.” Australasian Psychiatry 27, no. 3 (June 2019): 255–61. https://doi.org/10.1177/1039856219833793.