Interventions to Promote Well-being of Nightshift Nursing Team Members

Background:

Nightshift health care employees can experience greater likelihood of health threats such as weight gain, hypertension, and sleep disturbances. Evidence indicates a willingness of nightshift health care professionals to engage in wellness activities initiated at the work setting and during the assigned nightshift. In this single site study at a freestanding pediatric tertiary care hospital, inpatient units will be randomized to one of two nightshift interventions during an 8-week study period (mindfulness plus sleep hygiene or physical activity plus sleep hygiene). Immediately following the first study period, the randomized units will begin a second study period in which they will continue with the intervention first received but shall add the intervention not initially received. While there are hundreds of studies that describe the adverse health and safety effects of night shift work, there are few studies where interventions are tested for their efficacy to reduce the harm to workers or improve their well-being. Currently the few intervention studies that exist focus on the scheduling, duration and timing of work shifts, the timing of meals, and aspects of lighting in the workplace. Other interventions, such as those proposed in this study, have not been tested systematically using a rigorous design.

Purpose and Methods:

The purpose of this study, using a cluster cross-over randomized trial design, is to measure the impact on professional quality of life (primary endpoint) and medication administration error, role-related meaning, and sleep quality (secondary endpoints) of either a mindfulness intervention plus sleep hygiene (Arm A) or a physical activity intervention plus sleep hygiene (Arm B) in the first study period, and the combination of both interventions on the same outcomes in the second study period for nightshift health care employees.