This study evaluates the effectiveness of a Compassion Focused Staff Support (CFSS) intervention in improving the social climate of correctional and forensic psychiatric institutions. The intervention is based on Compassion Focused Therapy and designed to support staff in managing stress, enhancing affect regulation, and strengthening compassion toward self and others. Three institutional units are included in the study. One unit is randomly selected to receive the full CFSS intervention, including a half-day introductory workshop and monthly staff support sessions over six months. A second unit serves as a control group and receives no intervention. A third unit receives only the initial workshop without follow-up sessions. The effect of the intervention is evaluated using a pre-test/post-test design. Outcomes include changes in staff-reported and client-reported social climate, assessed with validated questionnaires, as well as institutional data on critical incidents. The study aims to improve working conditions in secure settings and foster more compassionate, effective staff-client interactions.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
NON_RANDOMIZED
Purpose
SUPPORTIVE_CARE
Masking
NONE
Enrollment
52
The Compassion Focused Staff Support (CFSS) intervention is designed to promote emotional resilience, compassion, and affect regulation. The intervention begins with a half-day introductory workshop covering the evolution-informed model of emotion regulation, the three-affect system framework, social mentalities, and the nature of compassion. This workshop provides psychoeducation and experiential exercises to introduce key concepts. Following the workshop, staff participate in six monthly 60-minute team sessions over a six-month period. These sessions involve reflective dialogue, experiential exercises, compassion-focused practices, and group-based exploration of emotionally challenging work situations.
Participants attend a single half-day workshop providing psychoeducation and experiential exercises on compassion, affect regulation, and social mentalities based on Compassion Focused Therapy.
University Psychiatric Clinics Basel
Basel, Switzerland
Staff-Perceived Social Climate
Staff perceptions of social climate will be assessed using the Essen Climate Evaluation Schema (EssenCES), a self-report questionnaire.
Time frame: T0 (6 months before start of the intervention), T1 (2 weeks before start of the intervention), T2 (2 weeks after last session of the intervention)
Compassion
Compassionate attitudes and behaviours will be measured using the German version of the Compassionate Engagement and Action Scales (CEAS) to assess staff capacity for self- and other-directed compassion. The CEAS is a self-report questionnaire.
Time frame: T0 (6 months before start of the intervention), T1 (2 weeks before start of the intervention), T2 (2 weeks after last session of the intervention)
Client-Perceived Social Climate
Client perceptions of institutional social climate will be measured using the EssenCES. Assessed at three timepoints to evaluate potential parallel changes from the client perspective.
Time frame: T0 (6 months before start of the intervention), T1 (2 weeks before start of the intervention), T2 (2 weeks after last session of the intervention)
Critical Incidents
Frequency of critical incidents (e.g., aggression, safety breaches) will be extracted from institutional records. Routinely collected data will be used to assess environmental shifts during the intervention period.
Time frame: T0 (6 months before start of the intervention), T1 (2 weeks before start of the intervention), T2 (2 weeks after last session of the intervention)
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