Written Exposure Therapy for Nurses

Early Phase 1

Completed

• Conditions: Burn Out; Anxiety; Posttraumatic Stress Disorder; Depressive Symptoms; Work Related Stress
• Interventions: Behavioral: WET

• Registration Number: NCT06432374
• Lead Sponsor: University of Texas at Austin

Brief Summary

Nurses often experience elevated levels of stress, overwork, and trauma in the workplace, leading to posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, burnout, and even nurse turnover. While effective therapies for PTSD exist, barriers to treatment arise from nursing culture, such as workplace stigma about mental health problems, fear that psychological status may impact performance evaluations, and demands of shiftwork. There is a pressing need for scalable evidence-based interventions tailored to nursing culture to effectively address PTSD and related mental health issues. The study aimed to assess the feasibility, safety, and acceptability of a tailored evidence-based treatment, Written Exposure Therapy (WET), for nurses experiencing work-related traumatic stress.

This single-arm open pilot study with pre- and post-intervention assessments, included participants from two nursing schools' alumni. Eligibility criteria included nurses screening positive for work-related trauma with a report of at least two PTSD symptoms. Participants engaged in a self-administered, asynchronous, five-week online writing session, facilitated by WET-trained nurses. Outcomes measures (PTSD, depression, anxiety, burnout, and intention to quit) were assessed at baseline, post-intervention, and 5-weeks follow-up.

Detailed Description

Not available

Study Timeline

• Study Start: 2022-02-01
• Primary Completion: 2023-03-01
• Study Completion: 2023-09-01
• Status Verified: 2024-05
• Study First Submitted: 2024-05-21
• Study First Submitted QC: 2024-05-28
• Last Update Submitted: 2024-05-28
• Study First Posted: 2024-05-29
• Last Update Posted: 2024-05-29

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: COMPLETED
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 10

Inclusion Criteria

• Work-related trauma
• Posttraumatic stress disorder

Exclusion Criteria

• Current substance abuse
• Current suicidality
• Current psychiatric treatment with psychotherapy or psychotropic medications other than selective serotonin (and norepinephrine) reuptake inhibitors (SSRI/SNRI).

Study & Design

• Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Design: SINGLE_GROUP

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
Written Exposure Therapy	WET	WET is a trauma-focused therapy for PTSD. It includes five writing sessions.

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Posttraumatic stress disorder	Baseline, immediately post-intervention, and 5 weeks follow-up	The PTSD Checklist for DSM-5 was used to assess symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder in the past month. The total score ranges from 0-80, with higher scores indicating more severe PTSD symptoms.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Depression	Baseline, immediately post-intervention, and 5 weeks follow-up	The Patient Health Questionnaire-8 was used to assess the frequency of depressed mood in the past two weeks. The total score ranges from 0-24, with higher scores indicating more severe depression symptoms.
Professional Quality of Life	Baseline, immediately post-intervention, and 5 weeks follow-up	The Professional Quality of Life was used to assess compassion satisfaction, burnout, and secondary traumatic stress. Each subscale score ranges from 10-50, with higher scores indicating higher levels of compassion satisfaction, more burnout symptoms, and more secondary traumatic stress.
Anxiety	Baseline, immediately post-intervention, and 5 weeks follow-up	The Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 was used to assess the frequency of anxiety symptoms in the past two weeks. The total score ranges from 0-21, with higher scores indicating more severe anxiety symptoms.
Intention to Quit	Baseline, immediately post-intervention, and 5 weeks follow-up	Intention to quit the job or leave the nursing profession were asked using two questions - "How often have you thought about quitting your job in the past month?", "How often have you thought about leaving the nursing profession in the past month?". The five responses are "never," "rarely," "sometimes," "very often", and "always." The scores for both intention to quit the job and intention to leave the nursing profession range from 1-5, with higher scores indicating greater intention to quit the job or leave the nursing profession.

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

University of Michigan; 🇺🇸 Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States