The Effects of Dog Therapy on Ambulance Staff Burnout Scores.

NCT ID: NCT05438745

Last Updated: 2022-06-30

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: UNKNOWN
• Total Enrollment: 20 participants
• Study Classification: OBSERVATIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2022-08-01
• Study Completion Date: 2022-09-30

Brief Summary

Problem During the COVID 19 pandemic, NHS staff have become increasingly burned out. Mental health is the leading cause of staff sickness and absence in the NHS. Ambulance trusts have the highest rates of sickness across all NHS professions. Reduced staffing levels directly impacts service delivery. Staff struggling with poor mental health are more likely to make errors, have reduced empathy, and patients have lower patient satisfaction.

The Solution? Dog therapy is used in hospital settings around the world for patient benefit and staff welfare.

Evidence suggests dog therapy improves mood and reduces anxiety. Yorkshire Ambulance Service (YAS) has a small, but established dog therapy scheme, organised by the health and wellbeing team.

This research aims to observe if dog therapy affects symptoms of burnout in YAS staff. We will use two sets of staff:

Patient facing staff Staff with remote patient contact

What will participants need to do?

Participants will be given a Copenhagen Burnout Inventory - a questionnaire focusing on three factors:

Personal burnout Work related burnout Client related burnout

Burnout will be measured in 4 categories; no/low, moderate, high and severe burnout.

The questionnaire will be completed at the beginning and end of 8 weeks of dog therapy.

• Some optional demographic questions
• Number of sessions attended
• Engagement with occupational health services
• Dog Ownership

We will calculate the difference in severity of burnout between baseline and after 8 weeks of dog therapy.

A PPI group has been consulted on methodology, wording of plain English summary and the dissemination plan.

This research will be distributed to all interested participants, published in an appropriate journal presented at conferences, and presented in the ICA dissemination event.

Conditions

Burn Out; EMS Exposures or Injuries of EMS Personnel

Study Design

• Observational Model Type: COHORT
• Study Time Perspective: PROSPECTIVE

Study Groups

Experimental Group

Ambulance Service Staff participating in pet therapy sessions.

Copenhagen Burnout Inventry

Intervention Type: OTHER

Questionnaire

Interventions

Copenhagen Burnout Inventry

Questionnaire

Intervention Type: OTHER

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

Yorkshire Ambulance Service (YAS) Employee with patient contact. Patient contact includes face to face to face or remote patient contact. Taking part in YAS dog therapy scheme. Completed no more than 2 dog therapy sessions to date. -

Exclusion Criteria

Staff with no patient contact as part of their role. Staff on bank contract

-

• Minimum Eligible Age: 18 Years
• Maximum Eligible Age: 68 Years
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Sponsors

National Institute for Health Research, United Kingdom

OTHER_GOV

Sponsor Role: collaborator

Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust

OTHER_GOV

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Responsibility Role: SPONSOR

Principal Investigators

Richard Pilbery, MSc

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust

Central Contacts

Richard Pilbery, MSc

Role: CONTACT

Phone: +44‭07592269779‬

Email: r.pilbery@nhs.net

Other Identifiers

YASRD170

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id