Evaluating the Effectiveness of the Moving to Emptiness Technique in Reducing Counsellors' Compassion Fatigue

July 16, 2026 updated by: University of Malaya

The goal of this clinical trial is to learn if Moving to Emptiness Technique (MET) works to treat counselors' compassion fatigue (CF). It will also learn about the effectiveness of MET on counselors' professional quality of life and counselling self-estimate. The main questions it aims to answer are:

• Does MET reduce counselors' compassion fatigue? Researchers will compare MET intervention to a waitlist control group to see if MET works to treat counselor burnout.

Participants will:

  • Receive MET intervention for 4 sessions, once a week, 50 minutes per session.
  • Fill the questionnaires tests at three timepoints: before the intervention, immediately after the intervention phase and 4 weeks after the intervention.

Study Overview

Status

Not yet recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Compassion fatigue (CF) is a type of caregiver burnout which is developed by those persons who interact with traumatized individuals. Psychological counsellors are at high risk of CF. Interventions for counsellors' CF from former research included mindfulness-based interventions, and group psychotherapy. Moving to emptiness technique (MET) is a native Chinese psychotherapy, targeting to eliminate negative physical and emotional symptoms. MET is effective for many mental illness and physical symptoms, including depression, agoraphobia, insomnia, back pain caused by ankylosing spondylitis. However, the effectiveness of MET in alleviating counsellors' CF has not been empirically studied. Thus, this study aims to explore the effectiveness and feasibility of the MET intervention on CF among psychological counsellors, and to explore the effectiveness of MET on additional outcomes including professional quality of life and counselling self-estimate.

Participants will be recruited using convenience sampling through online channels relevant to psychological counsellors, including social media, professional forums and WeChat groups. Participants will also be recruited through peer networks whereby researchers' colleagues will be invited to share the study information within their professional circles. Recruitment will be initiated by distributing an online study invitation containing a brief overview of the research and a link to the participant information sheet through Wenjuan Xing. Individuals who express interest will be directed to the main researcher from whom they will receive detailed study information, complete the initial eligibility screening, and provide informed consent electronically. Eligible participants will then be scheduled for an online interview to confirm inclusion and exclusion criteria. All recruitment, screening, and enrolment procedures will be conducted remotely to accommodate participants' availability and ensure accessibility for practitioners across locations.

This study is a four-week two-armed trial. One group will receive the MET therapy (intervention group) and the other group (waitlist control group) will have their usual care while being on a waitlist and will participate in MET therapy after the trial is over. After registration, participants need to fill out a personal information questionnaire and a pre-test questionnaire first. Then, they will be randomly assigned to the intervention group or control group. After 4 weeks, participants will need to take another post-test, and after another 4 week, they will fill out the tracking questionnaire. This study will take 2 months, with 4 weeks' intervention stage and 4 weeks' tracking effectiveness stage. Participants in the intervention group are required to participate in a 4-week online intervention using MET (once a week and 50 minutes for each session) and fill out personal information questionnaires and test questionnaires. The MET sessions will be conducted by trained MET professional counsellors. Participants in the waitlist control group also need to fill out personal information questionnaires and test questionnaires but will proceed with your usual care. After the trial is over, they will have an opportunity to receive the same 4-week online MET as the experimental group.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

60

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Contact

Study Contact Backup

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Adults (aged 18-60)
  • Counsellors who have worked in the counselling profession for at least one year
  • Counsellors who self-report experiencing CF symptoms
  • Able to commit to attend the 4 weekly online sessions of 50 minutes' duration
  • Counsellors based in China

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Counsellors have received psychological therapy for their CF within the last 6 months
  • Counsellors who intend to participate in other psychological therapy for their CF besides MET during the study duration
  • Counsellors who self-report experiencing a traumatic event within past one year
  • Counsellors who self-report severe mental illness within past one year

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

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

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: MET intervention
Participants in the intervention group will receive MET intervention during the trial.
Behavioral: Moving to Emptiness Technique (MET)
The intervention is Moving to Emptiness Technique (MET), a native Chinese psychotherapy that integrates traditional Chinese cultural beliefs which focusses on the importance of the inner (psychological) world while including somatic (bodily) relaxation and the operational process of cognitive behavioural therapy. The delivery of MET intervention would be once a week, 50 minutes per session, across 4-weeks, to ensure the participants have enough rest between each session.
No Intervention: Waitlist control group
Participants assigned to the waitlist control group receive no study intervention during the trial period. After completion of the final follow-up assessment, they will be offered the Moving to Emptiness Technique (MET).

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Compassion Fatigue
Time Frame: Baseline, Week 4, Week 8
Chinese validated Compassion Fatigue Questionnaire (Source: Wang Junting, 2024)
Baseline, Week 4, Week 8

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Professional Quality of Life scale
Time Frame: Baseline, Week 4, Week 8
Chinese validated Professional Quality of Life scale (Source: Zheng et al., 2013)
Baseline, Week 4, Week 8
Counselling Self-Estimate
Time Frame: Baseline, Week 4, Week 8
Counselling Self-Estimate Inventory (Source: Yuen et al., 2004)
Baseline, Week 4, Week 8

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

University of Malaya

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Yew Kong Lee, PhD, Faculty of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Estimated)

July 27, 2026

Primary Completion (Estimated)

June 1, 2027

Study Completion (Estimated)

July 1, 2027

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

July 16, 2026

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

July 16, 2026

First Posted (Actual)

July 21, 2026

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

July 21, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

July 16, 2026

Last Verified

July 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • UM.TNC(P&I)/UMREC/3/6535

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

IPD Plan Description

This study involves sensitive mental health data.

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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