| Description |
Background: Healthcare workers in residential treatment centers experience high stress, which contributes to burnout, staff turnover, and poor patient outcomes. Stress management interventions for healthcare workers have been shown to improve well-being, decrease turnover, and improve patient outcomes. Local Problem: Healthcare professionals working in this residential treatment center for at-risk youth encounter a challenging work environment marked by significant stress. This stress arises from several factors, including frequent interruptions in their work, interactions with emotionally dysregulated youth, difficulties in collaborating with parents, and frequent staff turnover rates. Staff have been required to manage their work-related stress independently and separate from their work hours. Methods: This quality improvement project was conducted in four phases: assessment, development, implementation, and evaluation. The assessment phase included conducting preintervention surveys to evaluate healthcare workers' experiences with work-related stress and the Perceived Stress Scale. The development phase included identifying a stress intervention, the Stress First Aid Model, and adapting it for use with healthcare workers at a residential treatment center. The implementation phase included staff training, recruiting stress-intervention champions, and activating peer-to-peer support interventions to manage workday stress. The evaluation phase included post-intervention surveys to re-evaluate experiences of work-related stress and scores on the Perceived Stress Scale, as well as the feasibility, usability, and satisfaction of the interventions among healthcare workers. Interventions: Interventions to address workday stress were tailored to the specific needs of individual healthcare workers and implemented utilizing tools from the Stress First Aid Model. The effectiveness of the interventions was evaluated using the Stress Continuum. This model enabled staff to employ customized strategies, including mindfulness, humor, uninterrupted breaks, and supervisory support in high-stress situations. The Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycle was employed to facilitate iterative enhancements of the interventions throughout the project implementation period. Results: Pre-implementation work stress levels (0-100 sliding scale) during the most recent shift ranged from 8 to 75 (M = 53.1 ± 20.7); work stress levels in the past month ranged from 5 to 80 (M = 59.4 ± 24.0); anticipated work stress in the upcoming week ranged from 6 to 70 (M = 44.0 ± 22.5). Post-implementation survey results revealed that work stress levels during the most recent shift ranged from 9 to 50 (M = 27.2 ± 16.8); work stress levels in the past month ranged from 50 to 61 (M = 54.4 ± 6.0); anticipated work stress in the upcoming week ranged from 25 to 72 (M = 49.4 ± 16.6). In the post-intervention Perceived Stress Scale, three respondents had low stress, and three had moderate stress. Healthcare workers were likely to continue using the stress continuum and interventions at work. They found using the stress continuum for peer check-ins easy. They noted improved communication and connection among coworkers. Conclusion: Implementing the Stress First Aid Model with healthcare workers in a residential treatment center provided a framework for stress management and benefited most healthcare workers. The reported stress management benefits include increased communication and connection among coworkers, improved healthcare worker well-being, and improved communication among staff. Continued stakeholder engagement is essential for the sustainability and successful implementation of this quality improvement project. |
