Is brief daily body–mind–spirit practice desirable for staff who provide services for elderly people? Two pilot studies with care and professional workers

Abstract

A symptoms-focused approach had only limited short-term effects in addressing burnout. A new trend is toward a positive approach in fostering well-being in the workplace. The current study piloted a daily body–mind–spirit practice programme which provided a 15-minute small-group meeting with staff who provide services for elderly people, towards the end of every workday for one month at two study sites. Repeated measures of burnout, daily spiritual experience (DSE) and engagement were taken at pre-intervention, post-intervention (the intervention lasted for one month) and one month after intervention. The two groups, home help workers and professional staff respectively, showed different patterns in burnout reduction and increase of DSE.

Keywords::

• nursing home care
• older adult
• psychosocial intervention