Personalised yoga for burnout and traumatic stress in junior doctors

Jennifer Taylor; Loyola McLean; Bethan Richards; Nicholas Glozier

doi:10.1136/postgradmedj-2019-137413

Personalised yoga for burnout and traumatic stress in junior doctors

Postgrad Med J. 2020 Jun;96(1136):349-357. doi: 10.1136/postgradmedj-2019-137413. Epub 2020 Apr 16.

Authors

Jennifer Taylor¹, Loyola McLean^{2

3}, Bethan Richards^{4

5}, Nicholas Glozier^{6

7}

Affiliations

¹ Brain and Mind Centre and Central Clinical School, The University of Sydney Faculty of Medicine and Health, Camperdown, New South Wales, Australia jfis8639@uni.sydney.edu.au.
² Brain and Mind Centre and Westmead Psychotherapy Program for Complex Traumatic Disorders, The University of Sydney Faculty of Medicine and Health, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
³ Consultant-Liaison Psychiatry, Royal North Shore Hospital, St Leonards, New South Wales, Australia.
⁴ WellMD Centre, Sydney Local Health District, Camperdown, New South Wales, Australia.
⁵ Department of Rheumatology, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Camperdown, New South Wales, Australia.
⁶ Brain and Mind Centre and Central Clinical School, The University of Sydney Faculty of Medicine and Health, Camperdown, New South Wales, Australia.
⁷ Department of Psychiatry, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Camperdown, New South Wales, Australia.

PMID: 32300055
DOI: 10.1136/postgradmedj-2019-137413

Abstract

Objectives: Junior doctors are frequently exposed to occupational and traumatic stress, sometimes with tragic consequences. Mindfulness-based and fitness interventions are increasingly used to mitigate this, but have not been compared.We conducted a randomised, controlled pilot trial to assess the feasibility, acceptability and effectiveness of these interventions in junior doctors.

Methods: We randomised participants (n=21) to weekly 1-hour sessions of personalised, trauma-informed yoga (n=10), with a 4-hour workshop, and eHealth homework; or group-format fitness (n=8) in an existing wellness programme, MDOK. Burnout, traumatic stress and suicidality were measured at baseline and 8 weeks.

Results: Both interventions reduced burnout, and yoga increased compassion satisfaction within group on the Professional Quality of Life scale, without difference between groups on this measure.Personalised yoga significantly reduced depersonalisation (z=-1.99, p=0.05) compared with group fitness on the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI-HSS (MP)) and showed greater flexibility changes. Both interventions increased MBI Personal Accomplishment, with no changes in other self-report psychological or physiological metrics, including breath-counting.Participants doing one-to-one yoga rated it more highly overall (p=0.02) than group fitness, and reported it comparatively more beneficial for mental (p=0.01) and physical health (p=0.05). Face-to-face weekly sessions were 100% attended in yoga, but only 45% in fitness.

Conclusion: In this pilot trial, both yoga and fitness improved burnout, but trauma-informed yoga reduced depersonalisation in junior doctors more than group-format fitness. One-to-one yoga was better adhered than fitness, but was more resource intensive. Junior doctors need larger-scale comparative research of the effectiveness and implementation of individual, organisational and systemic mental health interventions.

Trial registration number: ANZCTR 12618001467224.

Keywords: clinical physiology; complementary medicine; psychiatry.

Publication types

Randomized Controlled Trial

MeSH terms

Adult
Burnout, Professional* / diagnosis
Burnout, Professional* / psychology
Burnout, Professional* / therapy
Depersonalization / prevention & control
Depersonalization / psychology
Female
Humans
Male
Medical Staff, Hospital / psychology*
Mental Health
Mindfulness / methods*
Quality of Life*
Stress, Psychological* / etiology
Stress, Psychological* / therapy
Suicidal Ideation
Suicide Prevention*
Suicide* / psychology
Treatment Outcome
Yoga / psychology*