The Effects of Dog Therapy on Ambulance Staff Burnout Scores. (Pawamedics)

Problem During the COVID 19 pandemic, NHS staff have become increasingly burned out. Mental health is the leading cause of staff sickness and absence in the NHS. Ambulance trusts have the highest rates of sickness across all NHS professions. Reduced staffing levels directly impacts service delivery. Staff struggling with poor mental health are more likely to make errors, have reduced empathy, and patients have lower patient satisfaction.

The Solution? Dog therapy is used in hospital settings around the world for patient benefit and staff welfare.

Evidence suggests dog therapy improves mood and reduces anxiety. Yorkshire Ambulance Service (YAS) has a small, but established dog therapy scheme, organised by the health and wellbeing team.

This research aims to observe if dog therapy affects symptoms of burnout in YAS staff. We will use two sets of staff:

Patient facing staff Staff with remote patient contact

What will participants need to do?

Participants will be given a Copenhagen Burnout Inventory - a questionnaire focusing on three factors:

Personal burnout Work related burnout Client related burnout

Burnout will be measured in 4 categories; no/low, moderate, high and severe burnout.

The questionnaire will be completed at the beginning and end of 8 weeks of dog therapy.

• Some optional demographic questions
• Number of sessions attended
• Engagement with occupational health services
• Dog Ownership

We will calculate the difference in severity of burnout between baseline and after 8 weeks of dog therapy.

A PPI group has been consulted on methodology, wording of plain English summary and the dissemination plan.

This research will be distributed to all interested participants, published in an appropriate journal presented at conferences, and presented in the ICA dissemination event.

Study Overview

• Status: Not yet recruiting
• Conditions: Burn Out; EMS Exposures or Injuries of EMS Personnel
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: Copenhagen Burnout Inventry

• Study Type: Observational
• Enrollment (Anticipated): 20

Contacts and Locations

• Study Contact: Name: Richard Pilbery, MSc; Phone Number: +44‭07592269779‬; Email: r.pilbery@nhs.net

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years to 68 years (ADULT, OLDER_ADULT)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

• Sampling Method: Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

Convenience sample of patient facing staff who are participating in Yorkshire Ambulance Service pet therapy scheme.

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

Yorkshire Ambulance Service (YAS) Employee with patient contact. Patient contact includes face to face to face or remote patient contact. Taking part in YAS dog therapy scheme. Completed no more than 2 dog therapy sessions to date. -

Exclusion Criteria:

Staff with no patient contact as part of their role. Staff on bank contract

-

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Number of groups / cohorts

1

Cohorts and Interventions

Group / Cohort	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental Group; Ambulance Service Staff participating in pet therapy sessions.	Other: Copenhagen Burnout Inventry; Questionnaire

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Mean difference in change of each section of Copenhagen Burnout Inventory (CBI) Score	CBI will be measured at week 0 and week 8. The CBI is composed of 3 sections. We will calculate a mean change in score for each of the 3 sections.	8 weeks.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Mean difference ambulance turnaround times.	We will calculate a mean difference in ambulance turnaround times for those participating in dog therapy vs those not participating on dog therapy.	8 weeks.
Drop out rate.	We will report the proportion of participants that withdraw from the study.	8 weeks.

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust
• Collaborators: National Institute for Health Research, United Kingdom
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Richard Pilbery, MSc, Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (ANTICIPATED): August 1, 2022
• Primary Completion (ANTICIPATED): September 30, 2022
• Study Completion (ANTICIPATED): September 30, 2022

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: June 24, 2022
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: June 24, 2022
• First Posted (ACTUAL): June 30, 2022

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (ACTUAL): June 30, 2022
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: June 24, 2022
• Last Verified: June 1, 2022

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Behavioral Symptoms; Stress, Psychological; Burnout, Psychological
• Other Study ID Numbers: YASRD170

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: UNDECIDED

Drug and device information, study documents

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