Intervention Trial to Increase Meaning in Work and Reduce Burnout

Intervention Trial Designed to Promote Collegiality and Mutual Support at Work as a Way to Increase Meaning in Work and Reduce Burnout

Collegiality is a one of the great virtues of physician-hood. Mutual support from colleagues to help deal with the challenges of being a physician has long helped physicians manage the stress related to practicing medicine and helped physicians derive meaning from their work. Unfortunately, increased productivity expectations and other changes to the practice of medicine over the last several decades have decreased the time physicians have to interact with colleagues and eroded the fabric of collegiality. Recent studies suggest burnout affects nearly half of U.S. physicians at any given point in time and has substantial personal and professional consequences. The steps organizations can take to promote collegiality are unknown. The goal of the present study is to evaluate the ability of an organizational intervention to encourage collegiality, shared experience, connectedness, and mutual support. This study builds on two prior intervention studies directed by the Mayo Clinic Department of Medicine Program on Physician Well-Being, the first focusing on a small group facilitated well-being curriculum and the second focusing on individual electronic tasks to prompt positive reflection and gratitude.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Burnout, Professional
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Small group meetings (COMPASS: COlleagues Meeting to Promote And Sustain Satisfaction)

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 125
• Phase: Not Applicable

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Senior Associate Consultants and Consultants in the Mayo Clinic Department of Medicine will be eligible for this study.

Exclusion Criteria:

• None beyond inclusion criteria.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Treatment
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: Single

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Small group intervention; Those randomized to the immediate intervention arm will be asked to meet approximately every other week for 6 months, covering 12 sessions. We will ask each group to meet in a relatively private setting (e.g., a restaurant near campus or a reserved meeting room), rather than more public spaces (e.g. river room, cafeteria) where interruptions are more likely.	Behavioral: Small group meetings (COMPASS: COlleagues Meeting to Promote And Sustain Satisfaction); The first 15 minutes of each session will be semi-structured discussion involving i) check in and ii) dialogue about the assigned question. Group leaders will be provided 3-4 discussion questions for each session. The group (or the leader) can choose the one they are most interested in and will then spend 10-15 minutes discussing the question together. Questions will touch on key themes for discussion (see the attached topics list) and are derived from our previous intervention studies. The remainder of the time can be used for socializing and building relationships with colleagues.
Placebo Comparator: Control; Participants randomized to Arm 2 (delayed intervention) will be "wait listed" to begin sessions 6 months after the start of the study. This participation will be optional.	Behavioral: Small group meetings (COMPASS: COlleagues Meeting to Promote And Sustain Satisfaction); The first 15 minutes of each session will be semi-structured discussion involving i) check in and ii) dialogue about the assigned question. Group leaders will be provided 3-4 discussion questions for each session. The group (or the leader) can choose the one they are most interested in and will then spend 10-15 minutes discussing the question together. Questions will touch on key themes for discussion (see the attached topics list) and are derived from our previous intervention studies. The remainder of the time can be used for socializing and building relationships with colleagues.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Burnout	Maslach Burnout Inventory results	12 month outcomes

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Depressive symptoms	PRIME-MD	12 month outcomes
Quality of life	LASA QOL	12 month outcomes
Job satisfaction	PJSS	12 month outcomes
Meaning at work	EWS	12 month outcomes
Social support	Social Provisions Scale	12 month outcomes
Social isolation	PROMIS Social Isolation	12 month outcomes
Job turnover	Single item asking about 2-year plans to leave current practice	12 month outcomes

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Mayo Clinic
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Colin West, MD, Mayo Clinic

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• West CP, Dyrbye LN, Satele DV, Shanafelt TD. Colleagues Meeting to Promote and Sustain Satisfaction (COMPASS) Groups for Physician Well-Being: A Randomized Clinical Trial. Mayo Clin Proc. 2021 Oct;96(10):2606-2614. doi: 10.1016/j.mayocp.2021.02.028. Epub 2021 Aug 5.

Helpful Links

• Mayo Clinic Clinical Trials

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): September 1, 2013
• Primary Completion (Actual): October 1, 2014
• Study Completion (Actual): October 1, 2014

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: July 7, 2020
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: July 7, 2020
• First Posted (Actual): July 10, 2020

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): July 10, 2020
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: July 7, 2020
• Last Verified: July 1, 2020

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: well-being; burnout
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Behavioral Symptoms; Stress, Psychological; Occupational Stress; Occupational Diseases; Burnout, Professional; Burnout, Psychological; Anti-Infective Agents; Sulfamethazine
• Other Study ID Numbers: 13-004834

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No