Burnout Intervention During War for Hospital Staff in Ukraine

Professional Burnout Among Socially Significant Services in Ukraine in Wartime and Its Dynamics Within the Framework of Training Intervention for Burnout Prevention

The project endeavours to investigate the feasibility and acceptability of a psychoeducational training intervention for professional burnout and related psychological variables among both medical and non-medical workers in Ukraine during wartime. A secondary aim is to assess the outcomes of the intervention at baseline (T0), post-intervention (T1), and follow-up (single-arm feasibility design). The participants receive two days of a psychoeducational training focusing on different facets of burnout prevention.

Study Overview

• Status: Recruiting
• Conditions: Burnout Risk
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Burnout prevention

Detailed Description

The investigators will identify eligible participants. An eligibility screening conducted in person or by telephone to ensure the inclusion criteria and to introduce the study is held by the study assistant. All participants must sign an informed consent after written and verbal study clarification. Participants will carry out self-reported measurements at baseline (T0), after the intervention phase of 2-5 days (T1; depending on the date of the second workshop day) and two weeks after finishing the intervention (T2). The group of participants participates in two workshop sessions lasting 2.5-3 hours each and occuring on separate days.

The training is practical in nature and aims to build and/or increase motivation to implement effective strategies for preventing burnout syndrome. Participants learn about scientifically proven methods of supporting mental health and receive tools for applying them in their professional and everyday lives.

The training program covers, in particular, the following areas: managing working time and workload; effective professional communication; developing stress-resistant thinking patterns; forming healthy lifestyle habits; methods of relaxation and overcoming stressful situations. .

The data management plan includes standard procedures for data-handling such as using anonymized identification codes for patient data. The data is being saved in an online database, only allowing researchers involved in the study to access the data.

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

Contacts and Locations

• Study Contact: Name: Solveig Kemna, Dr. med.; Phone Number: +49 30 450 517 542; Email: solveig.kemna@charite.de

Study Locations

• Ukraine
  • Kyiv Oblast
    • Kyiv, Kyiv Oblast, Ukraine, 01601
      • Recruiting
      • National Medical University Bogomolets, Kyiv, Kyiv
      • Contact: Lesia Sak; Phone Number: (044) 234-92-76; Email: lesia.sak@gmail.com

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Adult; Older Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Respondents must be 18 years of age or older.
• Sufficient command of the Ukrainian language to understand the materials and complete the questionnaires.
• Voluntary informed consent to participate in the study and data processing.
• Permanent residence in Ukraine at the time of participation in the study.
• Belonging to the working civilian population (medical or non-medical workers).
• Technical ability to participate online (access to the internet and an electronic device for completing questionnaires and participating in training).
• Skills/ability to attend online sessions and use smartphone chat for communication.
• Willingness to complete questionnaires at specified time points (T0, T1, T2).

Exclusion Criteria:

• Inability to provide informed consent or limited legal capacity.
• Presence at the time of inclusion of a condition that significantly complicates participation in the study or adherence to the protocol (acute psychotic episodes, manic states, severe cognitive impairment, decompensated somatic diseases, active dependence on psychoactive substances), Severe mental state or pronounced mental distress requiring urgent specialized care.
• Current intensive psychotherapeutic or psychiatric treatment that may significantly affect the assessed indicators.
• Lack of technical ability to participate in online training or complete questionnaires at specified times.
• Inability to use a smartphone or significant visual, hearing, or speech impairments that prevent interaction with the application and completion of questionnaires.
• Refusal to participate or withdrawal of informed consent at any stage of the study.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Prevention
• Allocation: N/A
• Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

1

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm

Intervention / Treatment

Experimental: Burnout prevention intervention; The training is practical in nature and aims to build and/or increase motivation to implement effective strategies for preventing burnout syndrome. Participants learn about scientifically proven methods of supporting mental health and receive tools for applying them in their professional and everyday lives. The training program covers, in particular, the following areas: managing working time and workload; effective professional communication; developing stress-resistant thinking patterns; forming healthy lifestyle habits; methods of relaxation and overcoming stressful situations.

Behavioral: Burnout prevention; The training is practical in nature and aims to build and/or increase motivation to implement effective strategies for preventing burnout syndrome. Participants learn about scientifically proven methods of supporting mental health and receive tools for applying them in their professional and everyday lives. The training program covers, in particular, the following areas: managing working time and workload; effective professional communication; developing stress-resistant thinking patterns; forming healthy lifestyle habits; methods of relaxation and overcoming stressful situations.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Acceptability of the intervention	Feasibility will be indexed by participants attendance of the workshop sessions (>25% of sessions).	Post-Intervention (after completion of 2 workshop sessions; 2-5 weeks from baseline)
Feasibility of intervention	Feasibility will be indexed by drop-out rate (<50% of participants); dropout is defined as having attended none of the sessions	Post-intervention (after completion of 2 workshop sessions; 2-5 days from baseline)
Acceptability of the intervention	Acceptability will be indexed by the retention rate (having filled out the post-intervention questionnaire) of participants to the study (>30% of questionnaires).	Post-intervention (after completion of 2 workshop sessions; 2-5 days from baseline)
Acceptability of the intervention	Acceptability will be assessed by using the Client Satisfaction Questionnaire (Attkisson & Zwick, 1982)	Post-intervention (after completion of 2 workshop sessions; 2-5 days from baseline)

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Stress, anxiety and depression	The Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (Nilges & Essau, 2015) will be used to analyse symptoms of stress, anxiety and depression. The main score ranges from 0 to 63, with higher scores indicating higher levels of depressive and anxiety symptoms.	At baseline, post-intervention (after completion of 2 workshop sessions; 2-5 from baseline), and follow-up (2 weeks after last workshop session)
Resilience	The Brief Resilience Scale (Smith 2009) will be used to assess the ability to bounce back or recover from stress. The scale consists of six items rated on a 5-point Likert scale. For interpretation, a mean score is calculated ranging from 1 to 5, with higher scores indicating greater resilience.	At baseline, post-intervention (after completion of 2 workshop sessions; 2-5 from baseline), and follow-up (2 weeks after last workshop session)
Traumatic stress	The International Trauma Questionnaire (Cloitre 2018) will be used to assess traumatic stress. Scores range from 0 to 25, with higher scores indicating greater somatic symptom burden	At baseline, post-intervention (after completion of 2 workshop sessions; 2-5 days from baseline), and follow-up (2 weeks after last workshop session)
Burnout - Exhaustion	The Masslach Burnout Inventory (Masslach et al., 1997) will be used to assess burnout, with the domain of emotional exhaustion ranging from 0-54.	At baseline, post-intervention (after completion of 2 workshop sessions; 2-5 days from baseline), and follow-up (2 weeks after last workshop session)
Burnout - Depersonalization	The Masslach Burnout Inventory (Masslach et al., 1997) will be used to assess burnout, with the domain of depersonalization ranging from 0-30.	At baseline, post-intervention (after completion of 2 workshop sessions; 2-5 days from baseline), and follow-up (2 weeks after last workshop session)
Burnout - Personal Accomplishment	The Masslach Burnout Inventory (Masslach et al., 1997) will be used to assess burnout, with the domain of Personal Accomplishment ranging from 0-48.	At baseline, post-intervention (after completion of 2 workshop sessions; 2-5 days from baseline), and follow-up (2 weeks after last workshop session)
Burnout (custom measure)	The questionnaire consists of a dichotomous (yes/no) with variable scoring (ranging from 0 to 5) depending on the content of each item. Total score: the overall level of emotional burnout is calculated as the sum of scores across 50 items, with a total score range from 0 to 75.	At baseline, post-intervention (after completion of 2 workshop sessions; 2-5 from baseline), and follow-up (2 weeks after last workshop session)

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Charite University, Berlin, Germany
• Collaborators: Bogomolets National Medical University

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): March 24, 2026
• Primary Completion (Estimated): November 1, 2026
• Study Completion (Estimated): November 1, 2026

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: April 1, 2026
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: May 29, 2026
• First Posted (Actual): June 2, 2026

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): June 2, 2026
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: May 29, 2026
• Last Verified: May 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Burnout; War; Ukraine
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Behavioral Symptoms; Stress, Psychological; Behavior; Burnout, Psychological
• Other Study ID Numbers: 26012026202

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