Prospective Observational Pre-Post Study of Burnout, Stress, and Psychological Well-Being in Healthcare Workers Participating in a Workplace Yoga Program

This is an observational, prospective, single-arm pre-post study designed to evaluate changes in burnout, stress-related coping strategies, anxiety, depression, and perceived well-being among healthcare workers participating in an existing workplace yoga program.

The study will be conducted at the IRCCS Centro Neurolesi "Bonino-Pulejo", P.O. "Piemonte", Messina, Italy. The yoga program is an organizational well-being initiative already implemented by the institution and is independent of the present research study. The investigators will not organize, deliver, or modify the yoga sessions and will limit their activities to the collection and analysis of observational data.

The study population will consist of adult healthcare professionals, including physicians, nurses, physiotherapists, and healthcare support workers, who voluntarily participate in the workplace yoga program. Participants must be at least 18 years old and be available to attend at least 70% of the scheduled sessions. Individuals with conditions that contraindicate participation in yoga, according to the institutional procedures governing the program, will not be included.

The workplace yoga program consists of 10 sessions conducted outside working hours. Each session lasts up to 60 minutes and includes three phases: an initial warm-up, a central phase involving yoga postures and breathing techniques, and a final phase involving meditation and relaxation. Sessions are conducted by certified instructors and scheduled according to staff shifts to facilitate access.

Participants will undergo assessment at baseline, before the beginning of the program (T0), and at the end of the 10-week program (T1). The multidimensional assessment includes the Copenhagen Burnout Inventory to evaluate personal, work-related, and patient-related burnout; the Brief Coping Orientation to Problems Experienced to assess coping strategies; the Beck Depression Inventory to measure depressive symptoms; and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory Form Y to assess state and trait anxiety. At follow-up, participants will also complete an ad hoc satisfaction questionnaire rated on a scale from 0 to 10.