Individual-level interventions for reducing occupational stress in healthcare workers

Area of Science:

• Occupational Health
• Psychology
• Evidence-Based Medicine

Background:

• Healthcare workers face work-related stress due to imbalances in demands, skills, and support.
• This stress can lead to burnout, psychosomatic issues, and decreased service quality.
• This review is an update focusing on individual-level interventions, separate from organizational strategies.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the effectiveness of stress-reduction interventions for individual healthcare workers.
• Interventions were compared against control groups (no intervention, waitlist, placebo, or alternative stress-reduction methods).
• The primary goal was to reduce stress symptoms.

Main Methods:

• Included randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of individual-level stress interventions for healthcare workers.
• Interventions were categorized into: focusing on stress experience, disengaging from stress, altering individual work factors, or combinations.
• Stress symptoms were measured using self-reported questionnaires, with short-term (≤3 months), medium-term (>3-12 months), and long-term (>12 months) follow-ups.

Main Results:

• 117 RCTs with 11,119 participants were included.
• Interventions focusing on the stress experience showed short-term (SMD -0.37) and medium-term (SMD -0.43) reductions in stress symptoms (low-certainty evidence).
• Interventions focusing away from stress yielded short-term (SMD -0.55) and medium-term (SMD -0.41) reductions (low-certainty evidence). Combined interventions showed short-term benefits (SMD -0.67).

Conclusions:

• Individual-level stress interventions, focusing on or away from stress experience, may reduce symptoms up to one year.
• Combined interventions show short-term benefits, but long-term effects are uncertain.
• Methodological improvements, larger sample sizes, and research on work-related factors are needed.