The Effects of Dog Therapy on Ambulance Staff Burnout Scores.

Burn Out Clinical Trial

— Pawamedics  

Official title:

The Effects of Dog Therapy on Ambulance Staff Burnout Scores.

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Not yet recruiting

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT05438745
• Other study ID #: YASRD170
• Status: Not yet recruiting
• Start date: August 1, 2022
• Est. completion date: September 30, 2022

Study information

• Verified date: June 2022
• Source: Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust
• Contact: Richard Pilbery, MSc
• Phone: +44?07592269779?
• Email: r.pilbery[@]nhs.net
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Study type: Observational

Clinical Trial Summary

Problem During the COVID 19 pandemic, NHS staff have become increasingly burned out. Mental health is the leading cause of staff sickness and absence in the NHS. Ambulance trusts have the highest rates of sickness across all NHS professions. Reduced staffing levels directly impacts service delivery. Staff struggling with poor mental health are more likely to make errors, have reduced empathy, and patients have lower patient satisfaction. The Solution? Dog therapy is used in hospital settings around the world for patient benefit and staff welfare. Evidence suggests dog therapy improves mood and reduces anxiety. Yorkshire Ambulance Service (YAS) has a small, but established dog therapy scheme, organised by the health and wellbeing team. This research aims to observe if dog therapy affects symptoms of burnout in YAS staff. We will use two sets of staff: Patient facing staff Staff with remote patient contact What will participants need to do? Participants will be given a Copenhagen Burnout Inventory - a questionnaire focusing on three factors: Personal burnout Work related burnout Client related burnout Burnout will be measured in 4 categories; no/low, moderate, high and severe burnout. The questionnaire will be completed at the beginning and end of 8 weeks of dog therapy. - Some optional demographic questions - Number of sessions attended - Engagement with occupational health services - Dog Ownership We will calculate the difference in severity of burnout between baseline and after 8 weeks of dog therapy. A PPI group has been consulted on methodology, wording of plain English summary and the dissemination plan. This research will be distributed to all interested participants, published in an appropriate journal presented at conferences, and presented in the ICA dissemination event.

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Not yet recruiting
• Enrollment: 20
• Est. completion date: September 30, 2022
• Est. primary completion date: September 30, 2022
• Accepts healthy volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers
• Gender: All
• Age group: 18 Years to 68 Years

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria:

Yorkshire Ambulance Service (YAS) Employee with patient contact. Patient contact includes face to face to face or remote patient contact. Taking part in YAS dog therapy scheme. Completed no more than 2 dog therapy sessions to date. - Exclusion Criteria: Staff with no patient contact as part of their role. Staff on bank contract -

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Burn Out
• Burnout, Psychological

Intervention

Other:
• Copenhagen Burnout Inventry
Questionnaire

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
n/a

Sponsors (2)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust	National Institute for Health Research, United Kingdom

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Primary	Mean difference in change of each section of Copenhagen Burnout Inventory (CBI) Score	CBI will be measured at week 0 and week 8. The CBI is composed of 3 sections. We will calculate a mean change in score for each of the 3 sections.	8 weeks.
Secondary	Mean difference ambulance turnaround times.	We will calculate a mean difference in ambulance turnaround times for those participating in dog therapy vs those not participating on dog therapy.	8 weeks.
Secondary	Drop out rate.	We will report the proportion of participants that withdraw from the study.	8 weeks.