The purpose of the current study is to test the efficacy of two brief, behavioral interventions intended to improve burnout among doctoral-level graduate students (n = 102). Specifically, individuals will be randomly assigned to one of three intervention conditions: 1) Reward: a brief intervention to help participants increase engagement in healthy and rewarding values-driven behaviors, 2) Approach: a brief intervention to help participants identify and decrease emotion-driven avoidance of important goals, or 3) Control: a control condition that involves monitoring only. Multilevel modeling will be used to assess changes in burnout, mood, and stress, following the interventions, controlling for participants' individual baseline levels of these variables.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
NONE
Enrollment
66
Brief behavioral intervention (administered during a 45-minute phone call) that is designed to improve graduate student burnout by helping participants to identify activities that are rewarding and pleasurable and to integrate these activities into their schedule.
Brief behavioral intervention (administered during a 45-minute phone call) that is designed to improve graduate student burnout by helping participants to identify activities that are challenging, but important to their long-term goals and values, and to integrate these activities into their schedule.
Duke University Medical Center
Durham, North Carolina, United States
Change in burnout, as measured by the School Burnout Inventory total score
Self-report questionnaire assessing burnout
Time frame: baseline (day 0) and post-intervention (day 10)
Change in stress, as measured by the Perceived Stress Scale total score
Self-report questionnaire assessing stress
Time frame: baseline (day 0) and post-intervention (day 10)
Change in mastery, as measured by the Pearlin Personal Mastery Scale total score
Self-report questionnaires assessing mastery
Time frame: baseline (day 0) and post-intervention (day 10)
Change in avoidance, as measured by the Brief Experiential Avoidance Questionnaire total score
Self-report questionnaires assessing avoidance
Time frame: baseline (day 0) and post-intervention (day 10)
Change in mood, as measured by the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule total scores for Positive and Negative Affect
Self-report questionnaire assessing mood
Time frame: baseline (day 0) and post-intervention (day 10)
Change in reward, as measured by the Environmental Reward Observation Scale total score
Self-report questionnaires assessing environmental reward
Time frame: baseline (day 0) and post-intervention (day 10)
Change in behavioral activation, as measured by the Activation sub-scale of the Behavioral Activation for Depression Scale
Self-report questionnaires assessing behavioral activation
Time frame: baseline (day 0) and post-intervention (day 10)
Change in functional impairment, as measured by the Modified Work and Social Adjustment Scale total score
Self-report questionnaire assessing functional impairment
Time frame: baseline (day 0) and post-intervention (day 10)
Change in quality of life, as measured by the WHOQOL-BREF total score
Self-report questionnaire assessing quality of life
Time frame: baseline (day 0) and post-intervention (day 10)
Change in depression symptoms, as measured by the General Depression scale of the Inventory of Depression and Anxiety Symptoms
Self-report questionnaire assessing depression symptoms
Time frame: baseline (day 0) and post-intervention (day 10)
Change in mastery, as measured by the average of the daily Importance ratings of activities (0-10) on the Daily Activities Monitoring Form
Self-report monitoring form describing activities during the day, how enjoyable they were, and how important they were
Time frame: baseline (days 0-3) and intervention (days 3-10)
Change in avoidance, as measured by the total score of the Avoidance/Rumination sub-scale of the Behavioral Activation for Depression Scale
Self-report questionnaire assessing avoidance and rumination
Time frame: baseline (day 0) and post-intervention (day 10)
Change in environmental reward, as measured by the average of the daily Pleasure ratings of activities (0-10) on the Daily Activities Monitoring Form
Self-report monitoring form describing activities during the day, how enjoyable they were, and how important they were
Time frame: baseline (days 0-3) and intervention (days 3-10)
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