[Pilot study examining a profession-oriented rehabilitation concept for nursing professions]

Z Psychosom Med Psychother. 2022 Jun;68(2):127-140. doi: 10.13109/zptm.2021.67.oa13. Epub 2021 Oct 28.
[Article in German]

Abstract

Pilot study examining a profession-oriented rehabilitation concept for nursing professions Objectives: Nursing professions are associated with high levels of psychological distress, high numbers of absent days and premature retirement. To achieve higher return-to-work rates, psychosomatic rehabilitation is expected to offer treatments tailored to workplace demands. This pilot study is the first to examine the effects of a new workplace-oriented medical rehabilitation program for nursing professions. Methods: A total of N = 145 depressed patients in nursing occupations (86.9 % female; 50.9 ± 7.34 years) took part in a workplace-oriented rehabilitation program for nursing professions. At admission they were compared to N = 147 depressed patients (63.27 % female; 49.36 ± 7.58 years) in non-nursing professions regarding patterns of work-related experience and behaviour (AVEM) using a MANOVA with follow-up ANOVAs for individual subscales. Changes in work-related attitudes among the nursing professions following completion of the intervention were assessed using a MANOVA followed by repeated measures ANOVAs. The effect of the workplace- oriented intervention on depressiveness (BDI-II) was compared to a treatment program for depression using a mixed model after taking potentially confounding variables into account. Results: At entry, depressed patients in nursing professions scored significantly higher on AVEM scale willingness to work to exhaustion and lower on AVEM scale distancing ability compared to depressed patients in other professions. Following completion of the workplace-oriented intervention program for nursing professions, participants showed a significant reduction on AVEM scales subjective importance of work, willingness to work to exhaustion, and striving for perfection. Increasing scores were observed on the distancing ability and life satisfaction scales. Depression scores had significantly improved at discharge in both participants of the work-oriented intervention and the disorder-specific intervention for depressive disorders, whereas neither group differences nor interaction effects were found. Conclusions: The work-oriented intervention for nursing professions successfully induced changes in maladaptive work-related attitudes. Improvements in depressiveness did not significantly differ from an intervention targeting depression specifically.

Zusammenfassung Fragestellung: Gegenstand der vorliegenden Studie ist die Erfassung des emotionalen Erlebens und seiner Veränderung durch eine teil-/stationäre psychodynamische Psychotherapie unter Berücksichtigung der Faktoren Alter, Geschlecht und traumatische Erfahrungen in Kindheit und Jugend. Methode: Untersucht wurden 971 Patienten in stationärer (n = 413) und teilstationärer (n = 558) psychodynamischer Psychotherapie. Die Datenerhebung erfolgte zu Beginn und am Ende der Behandlung mit folgenden standardisierten Instrumenten: Fragebogen zur Erfassung des Emotionalen Erlebens und der Emotionsregulation (EER), Childhood-Trauma-Questionnaire (CTQ), Inventory of Interpersonal Problems (IIP), Helping Alliance Questionnaire (HAQ), Symptom- Checkliste (SCL-90-R). Ergebnisse: Die durchschnittliche Behandlungsdauer betrug 66.8 Tage (SD = 14.1; Range 30–96). Jüngere Patienten und polytraumatisierte Patienten zeigten eine höhere Ausprägung negativer Emotionen. Am Ende der Behandlung zeigte die gesamte Patientengruppe eine Veränderung des emotionalen Erlebens, insbesondere einen starken Rückgang passiv-negativer Emotionen und eine Abnahme der psychischen Belastung. Das Alter stellte einen signifikanten Einflussfaktor auf die emotionale Veränderung dar. Diskussion: Die Ergebnisse unterstreichen die Bedeutung emotionaler Veränderung als Voraussetzung für einen Behandlungserfolg und bestätigen die Wirksamkeit einer teil-/stationären psychodynamischen Behandlung. Eine weitere Differenzierung der Patienten hinsichtlich ihrer emotionalen Ansprechbarkeit erscheint mit Blick auf die Geeignetheit der therapeutischen Angebote sinnvoll.

Keywords: Nursing Professions; Occupational Stress and Coping Inventory (AVEM); Psychosomatic Rehabilitation; Return-to-work; Workplace oriented medical rehabilitation (MBOR).

MeSH terms

  • Female
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Occupations*
  • Pilot Projects
  • Psychophysiologic Disorders
  • Return to Work* / psychology