Plain language summary
According to the German statistics office, nurses frequently suffer from emotional distress or mental disorders, due to the physical and social demands of the nursing profession in comparison to other professions. The high psychological burden was one of the main factors that was associated with an intention to leave the nursing profession by nurses. The aim of this study was to implement an intervention programme for nursing staff aged 45 and older, with the primary purpose of reducing work-related distress in order to maintain mental health and wellbeing until retirement age. The intervention included several strategies for stress prevention including group dynamic principles and cognitive behavioural techniques. Nurses attended seven weekly session of 120 min with a booster session after six weeks as part of a randomised control trial carried out in four hospital sites in Germany. The outcomes were measured via self –reported questionnaire. Significant positive effects were noted in relation to mental health, but with regards to psychological health only small significant effect was noted in the intervention group. The authors concluded that the ageing workforce should be reached via a specifically designed intervention adapted to their profession.
Abstract
OBJECTIVE This multicentre, randomised controlled trial (RCT) aimed to evaluate the efficacy of a small-group intervention promoting successful ageing at work in older nurses (aged ≥45). METHOD A sample of 115 nurses aged ≥45 from 4 trial sites in Germany were randomly assigned to either the intervention group (IG), that received a small-group intervention of seven weekly sessions of 120 min with a booster session after six weeks or to a wait-list control condition (WLC). Outcomes were measured via validated self-report questionnaires at baseline (T1) and at post-treatment (T2). Primary outcomes were mental health-related well-being and mental health-related quality of life (QOL). The secondary outcomes included mental health-related and work-related measures. RESULTS The intention to treat (ITT) analysis showed significant positive effects of the intervention on mental health. A significant small effect (d = 0.3) in favour of the IG was found for psychological health-related quality of life. Positive small effects (d = 0.24 to d = 0.31) were also found for work related mental strain. CONCLUSIONS Our small-group intervention based on a theory of successful ageing for nurses aged ≥45 was found to be effective with regard to improvements of psychological health related quality of life and other mental health-related outcomes. Thus, our study shows that the ageing workforce can be reached through specifically designed preventive interventions. The components of our intervention could be easily adapted to the belongings of other professions. Our results suggest that these components should be evaluated in various settings outside the healthcare sector.
Methodological quality
Jadad score
:
3
Allocation concealment
:
Yes
