The Counselor Led Resident Wellness Study

Not Applicable

• Conditions: Burnout, Healthcare Workers; Anxiety; Wellness Program; Depression Not Otherwise Specified

• Registration Number: NCT07053111
• Lead Sponsor: University of Nevada, Reno

Brief Summary

Residency is a challenging time in a physician's career. The investigators hope this study will provide a new wellness support model for residency programs to use for resident physicians. The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of a wellness support model for residency programs that is lead by licensed counselors. The investigators expect that participating resident physicians will feel and perform better in their job and your life with this additional support.

Detailed Description

Residency training has been identified as a challenging time in a physician's career. Prior studies have identified the positive effects of wellness support services on resident and attending physician wellbeing and burnout. A recent systematic review in PLoS One identified only one study in which counselors or psychologists, as opposed to peer mentors or other professionals including coaches, were utilized for the mental health wellness intervention. These studies show a benefit for some but not all metrics studied. Professional therapists may have additional skills or insight that may enhance wellness interventions. To help improve physician wellness at the University Health (UNR Plumas) Clinic, the investigators have developed an evidence based counselor wellness support group. The study will be a parallel group randomized controlled trial that seeks to build upon the above literature but also introduce additional novel components. Specifically, the study will utilize trained mental health counselors, instead of online or in person coaches or trained peer support, to provide in person physician wellness services to resident physicians. It will track the efficacy of a longitudinal, evidence-based curriculum by collecting data on wellness, depression, and anxiety using standard metrics, with the goal of increasing physician wellness in a cost-effective manner.

Study Timeline

• Study First Submitted: 2025-06-30
• Study First Submitted QC: 2025-06-30
• Status Verified: 2025-07
• Study First Posted: 2025-07-08
• Last Update Submitted: 2025-07-10
• Study Start: 2025-07-11
• Last Update Posted: 2025-07-16
• Primary Completion: 2026-05
• Study Completion: 2026-06-01

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: ENROLLING_BY_INVITATION
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 30

Inclusion Criteria

-All internal medicine residents at the University of Nevada, Reno whose continuity clinic site is the University Health (UNR Plumas) Clinic for the 2025-2026 academic year will be offered the opportunity to participate.

Exclusion Criteria

• Must be a UNR internal medicine resident as described above
• Residents must be interested/willing to participate

Study & Design

• Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Design: PARALLEL

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
The World Health Organization-Five Well-Being Index (WHO-5)	Approximately 10 months	The WHO-5 is a self-report instrument measuring mental well-being. It consists of five statements relating to the past two weeks. Each statement is rated on a 6-point scale, with higher scores indicating better mental well-being. Specifically, a score of 0 indicates the participant taking the survey has "At no time" experienced the statement in question, while a score of 5 indicates the participant experiences the statement "All of the time." A gradient of numbers in between 0-5 represents increasing in frequency of the given experience. The instrument has been translated into over 30 languages.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Patient Health Questionnaire 9 (PHQ - 9)	~10 months	Graded measurement of general depression severity. Participants answer 9 questions with scores from 0 (not at all) to 3 (nearly every day) for each question to determine depression severity. Higher numbers indicate higher possible depression severity.
GAD 7	~10 months	Seven question general anxiety metric. Participants rate questions from 0 (not at all) to 3 (nearly every day) to give a general measure of anxiety severity. Higher numbers indicate higher anxiety severity.

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

University Health Internal Medicine Clinic; 🇺🇸 Reno, Nevada, United States