Efficacy of Internet-Based Intervention for Occupational Stress Among Medical Professionals: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Medical professionals are at high risk for job stress and burnout. Research show that the negative effects of stress can be reduced through strengthening personal resources such as self-efficacy and perceived social support. In line with cultivation and enabling hypotheses (Schwarzer & Knoll, 2007; Benight & Bandura, 2004) either self-efficacy cultivates perceived support, or rather perceived support enables self-efficacy. This study aims at testing both hypotheses in experimental design by applying them as a theoretical framework for the Med-Stress: evidence-based, CBT-framed internet intervention to foster resource accumulation among medical professionals.

The effectiveness of intervention will be tested in a four-arm randomized controlled trial comparing the effects of: 1) self-efficacy and perceived support sequential enhancement (cultivation hypothesis), 2) perceived support and self-efficacy sequential enhancement (enabling hypothesis), 3) only self-efficacy, and 4) only social support enhancement (controls). Primary outcomes are job stress and burnout, secondary outcomes include work engagement, depression, and secondary traumatic stress. Self-efficacy and perceived support are expected to mediate the relationships between condition assignment and outcomes. Assessments include baseline (T1), three- or six-weeks post-test (depending on the condition, T2), as well as six- and twelve-months follow-ups (T3, T4). Intervention effect sizes and between-groups comparisons at post-test and follow-ups will be calculated.

This study will contribute to the findings on the role of personal resources in the development of job stress and burnout by demonstrating the cultivation vs enabling effects of self-efficacy and perceived social support.