Implementation Supports to Reduce Burnout in Therapists Delivering Child Trauma EBPs

Purpose

The majority of children exposed to early adversity and trauma do not have access to sustainably delivered evidence-based mental health programs (EBPs), despite the growing prevalence of large-scale multiple-EBP implementation efforts aimed at increasing access to these services. The objective of this proposal is to develop and test a package of implementation strategies designed to promote the sustained delivery of child trauma EBPs by reducing provider turnover through targeting the associated mechanisms of provider burnout and organizational psychological safety climate. Findings will have a significant public health impact by informing efforts to increase the sustained availability of child trauma EBPs, thereby improving outcomes for children exposed to trauma.

Condition

  • Mental Health Issue

Eligibility

Eligible Ages
Between 3 Years and 99 Years
Eligible Sex
All
Accepts Healthy Volunteers
Yes

Inclusion Criteria

  • Therapists who have delivered a (or components of a) trauma EBP to a child in the past year.

Exclusion Criteria

  • Therapists employed at their current agency for less than 6 months.

Study Design

Phase
N/A
Study Type
Interventional
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention Model
Parallel Assignment
Primary Purpose
Health Services Research
Masking
None (Open Label)

Arm Groups

ArmDescriptionAssigned Intervention
Experimental
SUPPORTS Implementation Model 		The SUPPORTS implementation model will consist of a package of implementation strategies aimed at improving EBP sustainment through reducing provider burnout and turnover and improving organizational climate. The content and structure of SUPPORTS will be informed by the occupational health literature (e.g., psychoeducation about burnout, mindfulness training, or changes involvement of providers in organizational decision-making) and from a needs and context assessment.
  • Other: SUPPORTS
    The SUPPORTS implementation model will be developed and refined based on community feedback. It will likely include a combination of strategies demonstrated to reduce burnout and secondary traumatic stress in the occupational health literature, such as psychoeducation about burnout, mindfulness training, or changes in scheduling or the physical environment. As the most effective interventions have been shown to involve an integration of both individual- and organization-directed strategies supporting each other, SUPPORTS will aim to include both. For example, the model may include provider-directed strategies such as group peer consultation meetings, and organizational-directed strategies such as increasing communication and providers' involvement in organizational decisions. Through this approach, SUPPORTS will aim to target therapist burnout and turnover at the provider and organizational level.
No Intervention
Implementation as Usual 		Agencies in the Implementation as Usual condition will have implementation strategies tied to the implementation of EBPs that these agencies in the community are already using (i.e., the study will measure the implementation strategies being used by the agency but will not provide any additional strategies). There will be no strategies related to reducing provider burnout and turnover and improving organizational climate.

Recruiting Locations

San Diego State University
San Diego, California 92123
Contact:
Teresa Lind
5082370631
tlind@sdsu.edu

More Details

Status
Recruiting
Sponsor
San Diego State University

Study Contact

Teresa Lind, PhD
5082370631
tlind@sdsu.edu

Detailed Description

Many evidence-based mental health interventions have been developed to address the negative outcomes associated with child exposure to early adversity and trauma. Despite these promising advances, however, the majority of children served in publicly funded mental health systems do not receive evidence-based programs (EBPs). To address this research-to-practice gap, several large-scale, system-driven implementation efforts of multiple trauma EBPs have been launched over the last decade, including in the states of California and Arkansas. Though these system-driven initiatives often increase EBP delivery in community settings following the initial implementation push, long-term sustainment of EBP delivery is low. Workforce risk factors, such as provider burnout leading to turnover, have been identified as contributing to the poor long-term sustainment of trauma EBPs. Therefore, an important step to consider in supporting the longterm sustainment of child trauma EBPs is to develop implementation strategies that target provider burnout and organizational climate factors associated with decreased provider retention. This study will develop and pilot a package of implementation strategies, "Supporting Providers & Preventing the Overwhelming of Resources in Trauma Systems" (SUPPORTS), aimed increasing the sustained delivery of trauma EBPs by addressing the factors associated with provider retention related to burnout. The development of SUPPORTS will be informed by a needs assessment conducted with programs involved with the multiple-EBP implementation efforts in California and Arkansas. A small randomized controlled pilot will then be conducted in California.