Bournemouth University Resilience Training for Surgeons

NCT ID: NCT03759795

Last Updated: 2022-03-02

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: COMPLETED
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 68 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2018-02-14
• Study Completion Date: 2022-01-01

Brief Summary

The challenges that characterise surgical practice may result in a myriad of stressors that impact upon the personal and professional lives of surgeons. This includes a high likelihood that surgeons will have to deal with adverse patient outcomes due to surgical complications and errors, sometime during their careers. Such stressors can have undesirable effects on the surgeon in terms of quality of life and psychological well-being (e.g. anxiety, feelings of regret), as well as lowered professional confidence and impaired perceptions of professional competence. Furthermore, there is evidence that these kinds of negative impacts can also lead to burnout and depression. As well as the detrimental effects on surgeons and those around them, this in turn may lead to more errors and poorer outcomes for patients. This study will examine the efficacy of an ACT based training intervention to enhance resilience and psychological flexibility.

Detailed Description

Research in a range of occupational settings has indicated that resilience plays an important role in ameliorating the impact of adverse events in high pressure environments. This project will use a randomised controlled trial research design to assess the efficacy of brief one-to-one Acceptance and Commitment Training (ACTr), designed to enhance surgeons' psychological resilience. According to the model ACTr is based on, psychopathology is primarily the consequence of psychological inflexibility i.e. inability to persist or change behaviour according to long-term values due to language and cognition skills, which has particular significance when an individual is confronted with stress or adversity.

The main aim of this research is to assess the efficacy of a brief one-to-one Acceptance and Commitment Training course. Researchers wish to ascertain whether such a course can increase surgeons' resilience by increasing psychological flexibility, valuing and self-compassion (all of which are expected to be positively impacted by this training). This research will fill a gap in the relevant research literature; namely that no research project as far as we are aware has evaluated ACTr as a means to enhance resilience in surgeons. In fact any research conducted on resilience training with a surgical population is rare.

Conditions

Effect of Training

Study Design

• Allocation Method: RANDOMIZED
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Primary Study Purpose: PREVENTION
• Blinding Strategy: NONE

Study Groups

Intervention Group

Acceptance and Commitment Training (ACTr)

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

ACTr (Acceptance and Commitment Training)

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

The programme is based on Acceptance and Commitment Training (ACT), a contemporary, empirically supported approach to psychological well-being.

Wait-list control

No intervention during trial. Participants in this group will be offered the training once the study is complete.

Group Type: NO_INTERVENTION

No interventions assigned to this group

Interventions

ACTr (Acceptance and Commitment Training)

The programme is based on Acceptance and Commitment Training (ACT), a contemporary, empirically supported approach to psychological well-being.

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

Trainee surgeons and consultant surgeons

Exclusion Criteria

None

• Minimum Eligible Age: 21 Years
• Maximum Eligible Age: 75 Years
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Sponsors

Royal Bournemouth and Christchurch Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

OTHER_GOV

Sponsor Role: collaborator

Bournemouth University

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Responsibility Role: SPONSOR

Principal Investigators

Helen Bolderston

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Bournemouth University

Locations

Royal Bournemouth and Christchurch Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Bournemouth, , United Kingdom

Poole Hopsital

Poole, , United Kingdom

Countries

United Kingdom

References

Finnes A, Ghaderi A, Dahl J, Nager A, Enebrink P. Randomized controlled trial of acceptance and commitment therapy and a workplace intervention for sickness absence due to mental disorders. J Occup Health Psychol. 2019 Feb;24(1):198-212. doi: 10.1037/ocp0000097. Epub 2017 Sep 28.

Reference Type: BACKGROUND

PMID: 28956942 (View on PubMed)

Flaxman PE, Bond FW. A randomised worksite comparison of acceptance and commitment therapy and stress inoculation training. Behav Res Ther. 2010 Aug;48(8):816-20. doi: 10.1016/j.brat.2010.05.004. Epub 2010 May 8.

Reference Type: BACKGROUND

PMID: 20627269 (View on PubMed)

Pinto A, Faiz O, Davis R, Almoudaris A, Vincent C. Surgical complications and their impact on patients' psychosocial well-being: a systematic review and meta-analysis. BMJ Open. 2016 Feb 16;6(2):e007224. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2014-007224.

Reference Type: BACKGROUND

PMID: 26883234 (View on PubMed)

Shanafelt TD, Balch CM, Bechamps G, Russell T, Dyrbye L, Satele D, Collicott P, Novotny PJ, Sloan J, Freischlag J. Burnout and medical errors among American surgeons. Ann Surg. 2010 Jun;251(6):995-1000. doi: 10.1097/SLA.0b013e3181bfdab3.

Reference Type: BACKGROUND

PMID: 19934755 (View on PubMed)

Balch CM, Shanafelt TD, Dyrbye L, Sloan JA, Russell TR, Bechamps GJ, Freischlag JA. Surgeon distress as calibrated by hours worked and nights on call. J Am Coll Surg. 2010 Nov;211(5):609-19. doi: 10.1016/j.jamcollsurg.2010.06.393. Epub 2010 Sep 20.

Reference Type: BACKGROUND

PMID: 20851643 (View on PubMed)

Flaxman P. , Bond, F., Livheim, F. (2013): The Mindful and Effective Employee: An Acceptance and Commitment Therapy Training Manual for Improving Well-Being and Performance. New Harbinger Publications; 2013

Reference Type: BACKGROUND

Turner, K., Johnson, C., Thomas, K., Bolderston, H., & McDougall, S. (2016). The impact of complications and errors on surgeons. The Bulletin Of The Royal College Of Surgeons Of England, 98(9), 404-407. doi: 10.1308/rcsbull.2016.404

Reference Type: BACKGROUND

Greville-Harris M, Wezyk A, Thomas K, Richer S, Bolderston H, Purchase N, McDougall S, Turner KJ. Acceptance and commitment therapy- based intervention to improve psychological skills and resilience in surgical trainees: a randomised waitlist-controlled trial. BMC Surg. 2025 Jul 28;25(1):315. doi: 10.1186/s12893-025-03059-5.

Reference Type: DERIVED

PMID: 40721794 (View on PubMed)

Kunzler AM, Helmreich I, Chmitorz A, Konig J, Binder H, Wessa M, Lieb K. Psychological interventions to foster resilience in healthcare professionals. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2020 Jul 5;7(7):CD012527. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD012527.pub2.

Reference Type: DERIVED

PMID: 32627860 (View on PubMed)

Provided Documents

Document Type: Study Protocol

View Document

Document Type: Informed Consent Form

View Document

Other Identifiers

1819/IRASSR/1

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id