Effect of a group‐based acceptance and commitment therapy programme on the mental health of clinical nurses during the COVID‐19 sporadic outbreak period

Abstract

Aim To develop and implement of a group‐based acceptance and commitment therapy programme in helping clinical nurses with mental health problems during the sporadic COVID‐19 outbreak period. Background In the face of the continuing COVID‐19 pandemic, clinical nurses have a high risk of mental health issues. Methods A quasi‐experimental design was used. Two hundred twenty‐six nurses were recruited from four general hospitals to receive 10 sessions of acceptance and commitment therapy programme. The Symptom Checklist‐90, Perceived Stress Scale and Connor–Davidson Resilience Scale were used to assess nurses' mental health symptom, perceived stress and psychological resilience at pre‐intervention and 4‐week post‐intervention. Results The mean attendance sessions was 5.78. The Symptom Checklist‐90 score was significantly lower at post‐intervention than pre‐intervention ( P < 0.01), and there were no significant changes of perceived stress and psychological resilience. There were significant correlations among the changed rates of mental health, perceived stress and psychological resilience ( P < 0.01). Conclusion The acceptance and commitment therapy programme was effective in relieving mental health symptoms for clinical nurses and could protect clinical nurses' perceived stress and psychological resilience. However, a randomized controlled trial is needed to confirm the findings. Implication for Nursing Management To facilitate clinical nurses' psychological health in crisis situation, nursing management team should provide and allocated appropriate resources to support the healthcare providers.

Changes of sleep patterns in primary care workers during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2022 in Shanghai

“…To our knowledge, this study is the rst to investigate multi-dimensional sleep patterns in primary HCWs during the rst wave of the 2022 COVID-19 pandemic in Shanghai. Other studies in China have generally focused on sleep as a secondary component of overall mental health (3) or speci c provider groups, such as HCWs from tertiary medical centers (20), intensive care units (ICU) practitioners (21), nurses (22), and anesthesiologists (23). Hassinger (5) et al investigated sleep patterns of all frontline and non-frontline providers using various sleep dimensions.…”

A Rapid Access Brief Psychotherapy Intervention to Respond to Healthcare Workers in Ontario Whose Mental Health was Negatively Impacted During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Une brève intervention de psychothérapie à accès rapide pour répondre aux travailleurs de la santé de l'Ontario dont la santé mentale a été affectée négativement pendant la pandémie de COVID-19

“…17 Despite the widely established negative mental health effects of the pandemic on HCWs, little published work has examined mental health interventions for HCWs during the COVID-19 pandemic. In general, existing studies suggest that brief interventions focused on improving HCWs' mental health during COVID-19 were associated with reductions in anxiety, [18][19][20][21][22][23] depression, [18][19][20][21] stress, 22,24 and sleep disturbance, 19 while others found no changes in anxiety, 25,26 depression, 25 stress, [25][26][27] and insomnia. 21,25 The interventions used included resilience enhancement, [22][23][24]28 cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT), 18,20,21 acceptance and commitment therapy, 27 and mindfulness.…”

“…In general, existing studies suggest that brief interventions focused on improving HCWs' mental health during COVID-19 were associated with reductions in anxiety, [18][19][20][21][22][23] depression, [18][19][20][21] stress, 22,24 and sleep disturbance, 19 while others found no changes in anxiety, 25,26 depression, 25 stress, [25][26][27] and insomnia. 21,25 The interventions used included resilience enhancement, [22][23][24]28 cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT), 18,20,21 acceptance and commitment therapy, 27 and mindfulness. 19,[25][26][27] Many of the aforementioned studies had small sample sizes, were conducted outside of North America, and started months to over a year after the pandemic onset.…”

“…21,25 The interventions used included resilience enhancement, 22–24,28 cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT), 18,20,21 acceptance and commitment therapy, 27 and mindfulness. 19,25–27 Many of the aforementioned studies had small sample sizes, were conducted outside of North America, and started months to over a year after the pandemic onset. Two Canadian psychotherapy studies were identified 20,29 ; 1 measured 2 of the aforementioned symptoms.…”

E-Health Psychological Intervention for COVID-19 Healthcare Workers: Protocol for its Implementation and Evaluation

“…In accordance, there is currently no standardized psychological intervention model aimed at healthcare workers in situations of infectious diseases; however, the available digital interventions have been directed towards reducing emotional distress and promoting positive aspects [20]. Approaches such as CBT [19,21,[24][25][26][27], behavioral activation (BA) [17], acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) [28], mindfulness, yoga, music therapy and progressive relaxation [21,22,24,25], resilience [17,20,22,24], self-care, social support [22], as well as positive psychology (PP) techniques to increase mental well-being, mental toughness and gratitude [18] have been applied for healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, the systematic reviews identified that part of the objectives of the interventions were to promote well-being, quality of life and self-efficacy [19], using: psychological first aid (PFA); eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR); anticipate, plan, and deter (APD); resilience at work (RAW); resilience and coping for the healthcare community (RCHC) and trauma risk management (TRiM)) [20].…”