Professional training in mental health self-care for nurses starting work in hospital departments

BACKGROUND: Nurses working in hospitals can suffer from occupational stress due to high workloads and low job and/or personal resources. This can lead to work-related stress, exhaustion, health problems, and low quality of care.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of the study was to evaluate the effectiveness of work-related self-care skill training for nurses.

METHODS: A pilot study was conducted with 94 nurses in hospital departments in Germany. Nurses were either assigned to the intervention group that received competence training or to a waitlist control group. The intervention took place in groups over a period of 12 weeks. Training content included i.e. work-related stress management training, problem-solving techniques, and solution-focused counselling. The outcomes studied were changes in work-related stress, emotional exhaustion, emotion regulation, and job satisfaction. Three follow-up assessments were arranged.

RESULTS: Nurses in the IG achieved a decrease in perceived job stress and emotional exhaustion as well as improvements with regard to enhanced emotion regulation skills. The intervention was evaluated with high satisfaction scores.

CONCLUSIONS: This study showed first indications that training of mental health self-care skills for junior nurses could be a supportive approach for nurses starting work in hospital departments. However, replication studies are needed to verify the results.