Storytelling Through Music to Improve Well-being Among Homeless Service Providers

NCT ID: NCT06536387

Last Updated: 2025-03-13

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: COMPLETED
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 14 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2024-07-01
• Study Completion Date: 2024-11-14

Brief Summary

Homelessness is a complex social issue and requires a dedicated workforce of helping professionals, including nurses and social workers. Secondary traumatic stress is common in this workforce and contributes to poor professional quality of life, burnout, and job turnover. These factors undermine the health and well-being of homeless service providers and threaten the stability of this critical workforce. The purpose of this study is to evaluate "Storytelling Through Music," an innovative 6-week, multi-dimensional intervention, to improve well-being among homeless service providers.

Detailed Description

Research has found that the burden of secondary traumatic stress among homeless service providers (HSP) is similar to that among other healthcare professionals, including nurses working in urban emergency departments and in inpatient psychiatric hospitals. Left unaddressed, secondary traumatic stress can cause compassion fatigue and emotional exhaustion, furthering a cycle of poor professional quality of life (QoL), burnout, and job turnover. Research has identified that arts-based interventions have promise in helping healthcare professionals cope with work-related emotions, assist in revealing genuine emotions linked to work-related stress, and in improving professional QoL. What remains unclear is if arts-based interventions can yield similar benefits amongst HSPs.

The purpose of this study, therefore, is to evaluate the feasibility of implementing Storytelling Through Music (STM) with HSPs working with the homeless population in Austin, Texas. STM is a six-week intervention that combines storytelling, reflective writing, song-writing, and self-care skills to improve emotion regulation through affective and cognitive coping skills. Our preliminary data suggests STM to be feasible and acceptable, and preliminary evidence demonstrates improved coping, psychosocial well-being, and burnout in nurses. Specifically, this project aims to:

Aim 1: Explore the contextual factors impacting the well-being of frontline HSPs.

Aim 2: Examine the feasibility of implementing Storytelling Through Music with HSPs.

Aim 3: Investigate the preliminary intervention effect on coping (emotion regulation, self-compassion); well-being (anxiety, depressive symptoms, loneliness, post-traumatic growth, insomnia); and work-related factors (secondary traumatic stress, burnout, compassion satisfaction, and intent to leave).

Conditions

Burnout, Professional; Anxiety; Depression; Secondary Trauma

Study Design

• Allocation Method: NA
• Intervention Model: SINGLE_GROUP
• Primary Study Purpose: OTHER
• Blinding Strategy: NONE

Study Groups

Storytelling Through Music

Storytelling Through Music is a six-week intervention that utilizes storytelling, reflective writing, self-care skills, and song-writing. The intervention will be administered in small groups of 4-6 participants/group and with a hybrid approach. The writing workshops will occur online, and the share circle (stories and songs shared with the group) will occur in person. The group sizes will be kept small to ensure that each participant has adequate time to share their writing during the group sessions.

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

Storytelling Through Music

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Storytelling Through Music is a six-week intervention that combines storytelling, reflective writing, song-writing, and self-care skills to improve emotion regulation through affective and cognitive coping skills.

Interventions

Storytelling Through Music

Storytelling Through Music is a six-week intervention that combines storytelling, reflective writing, song-writing, and self-care skills to improve emotion regulation through affective and cognitive coping skills.

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• >18 years old
• employed in a homeless services organization in Austin/Travis County for at least 6 months
• licensed as a nurse or social worker
• ability to read and speak English
• access to computer, internet, and zoom.

Exclusion Criteria

• previous participation in the STM intervention

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

Sponsors

University of Texas at Austin

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Carolyn Phillips

Assistant Professor

Responsibility Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Principal Investigators

Carolyn Phillips

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

University of Texas at Austin

Locations

University of Texas at Austin

Austin, Texas, United States

Countries

United States

Other Identifiers

STUDY00006156

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id