The goal of this clinical trial is to learn if having a 4-week heartfulness meditation program in a healthcare organization would 1. decrease burnout 2. improve sleep and work engagement. Researchers will compare : intervention group : participating in 4 weeks of Heartfulness Meditation with control group: receiving no intervention Responses to the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES), Bergen Insomnia Scale (BIS) and two burnout questions will be compared between the study groups at the beginning and end of the intervention period.
The study is an 8-week single-center prospective, randomized, crossover study among healthcare workers in the WellSpan Health System. All participants were asked to answer two demographic questions and responses to the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES), and Bergen Insomnia Scale (BIS), two burnout questions were requested for a baseline. Participants were randomized to two groups. One of the groups would undergo the intervention first, which comprised receiving an orientation session regarding the study, attending at least once weekly didactic sessions on Zoom, and participating in morning and evening meditation for ten to fifteen minutes daily. The duration of the intervention period was four weeks. During this time, the control group would not be undergoing any intervention. After four weeks, both groups completed the original questionnaire again followed by a 2 week washout period. This was followed by a crossover, allowing the second group to undergo the intervention for four weeks. After four weeks, the final survey was sent to all participants again.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
OTHER
Masking
DOUBLE
Enrollment
117
Receiving an orientation session regarding the study, attending once weekly didactic sessions on Zoom for Heartfulness Meditation, and participating in morning and evening meditation for ten to fifteen minutes daily either by themselves or along with the trainer.
WellSpan Health
York, Pennsylvania, United States
Sleep
The Bergen Insomnia Scale (BIS) was measured prior to enrollment, at the four-week time point after the first half of the study, and at the end of the study period at 8 weeks for both the groups. The BIS contains six questions relating to sleep and tiredness, and it is scaled based on the number of days per week that participants are experiencing symptoms. 0 means no days during the course of a week, and 7 indicates every day of the week.
Time frame: From intervention to end of intervention at 4 weeks for each group
Work engagement
THE UWES scale, designed to study work engagement using three scales: vigor, dedication, and absorption was measured prior to the beginning of the study, at the four-week time point after the first half of the study, and at the end of the study period at 8 weeks for both groups. The UWES questionnaire contains 9 questions, and participants are given a scale from 0 to 6, with 0 being never to 6 being always 10.
Time frame: From intervention to end of intervention at 4 weeks for each group
Burnout
Two burnout questions were asked, 1. I feel burned out from my work 2. I have become more callous toward people since I took this job . The scale for answering these questions ranged from never to everyday. This was measured prior to the beginning of the study, at the four-week time point after the first half of the study, and at the end of the study period at 8 weeks for both groups.
Time frame: From intervention to end of intervention at 4 weeks for each group
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