Effects of Mindfulness Practice on Healthcare Workers

Effects of Mindfulness Practice on Healthcare Workers During the COVID-19 (Coronavirus Disease) Pandemic

This study aims to examine the effects of mindfulness practice administered using a mobile app on psychological health among health care workers in Singapore.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Psychological Burnout
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Mindfulness Practice; Behavioral: Cognitive training

Detailed Description

Research has shown that health workers are particularly at risk of experiencing heightened risks of burnout and psychological symptoms when dealing with a health pandemic, including the current COVID-19 pandemic (Lai et al., 2020; Tan et al., 2020; Wu et al., 2009). The increased risk reflects an urgent need to develop feasible psychological interventions to mitigate burnout and psychological symptoms among health workers. The present study aims to examine the effects of a brief mindfulness intervention delivered using a mobile application (HeadSpace) on psychological functioning in the context of coping with the COVID-19 pandemic in a sample of health workers in Singapore. A total of 80 health workers will be recruited and randomly assigned to using a mindfulness practice app or a cognitive games app daily over a period of 21 days. They will be assessed at baseline, post-intervention, and at one-month follow-up on depressive symptoms, anxiety, stress, burnout, compassion fatigue, compassion satisfaction, post-traumatic stress symptoms, trait mindfulness, self-compassion, sleep quality, working memory, and fear of COVID-19 infection. Results of the study will have implications on developing cost-effective interventions to mitigate psychological symptoms among health workers in the context of heightened pandemic-related stress.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 80
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Singapore
  • Singapore, Singapore, 129792
    • Yle-NUS College

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 21 years to 60 years (Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• aged between 21 and 60
• being a health care worker based in Singapore
• proficient in English
• owns a smartphone (iOS or Android) with Wi-Fi or data access.

Exclusion Criteria:

-Regular mindfulness practice, defined by practicing a minimum of two to three times a week for 10 to 15 minutes each time within the past six months.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

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

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: HeadSpace Mobile App; Mindfulness practice	Behavioral: Mindfulness Practice; 10-15 mins of daily mindfulness practice using HeadSpace, for 3 weeks
Active Comparator: Lumosity Mobile App; Cognitive games	Behavioral: Cognitive training; 10-15 mins of cognitive games using Lumosity, for 3 weeks

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Depression	Depression subscale of the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scales- 21 (DASS)	Change from Baseline to Within 7 Days Post intervention
Anxiety	Anxiety subscale of the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scales- 21 (DASS)	Change from Baseline to Within 7 Days Post intervention
Fear of COVID-19	Fear of COVID-19 Scale	Change from Baseline to Within 7 Days Post intervention
Burnout, Compassion Satisfaction, and Secondary Traumatic Stress	Professional Quality of Life Scale Version 5 (3 subscales respectively)	Change from Baseline to Within 7 Days Post intervention
Sleep Quality	One item from Pittsburg Sleep Quality Inventory	Change from Baseline to Within 7 Days Post intervention
Working Memory	Digit span tasks - forward and backward	Change from Baseline to Within 7 Days Post intervention
PTSD symptoms	Posttraumatic stress disorder Checklist- Civilian Version(higher scores indicate greater PTSD symptoms)	Change from Baseline to Within 7 Days Post intervention

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Trait Mindfulness	Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (higher scores indicate greater trait mindfulness)	Change from Baseline to Within 7 Days Post intervention
Self-Compassion	Self-Compassion Scale (higher scores indicate greater self-compassion)	Change from Baseline to Within 7 Days Post intervention

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Yale-NUS College
• Collaborators: Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Shian-Ling Keng, PhD, Yale-NUS College

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Keng SL, Chin JWE, Mammadova M, Teo I. Effects of Mobile App-Based Mindfulness Practice on Healthcare Workers: a Randomized Active Controlled Trial. Mindfulness (N Y). 2022;13(11):2691-2704. doi: 10.1007/s12671-022-01975-8. Epub 2022 Sep 16.

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): May 19, 2020
• Primary Completion (Actual): March 31, 2021
• Study Completion (Actual): July 31, 2021

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: June 7, 2021
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: June 15, 2021
• First Posted (Actual): June 23, 2021

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Estimate): January 13, 2023
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: January 12, 2023
• Last Verified: January 1, 2023

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Behavioral Symptoms; Stress, Psychological; Burnout, Psychological
• Other Study ID Numbers: YaleNUS

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