Healthcare providers (HCPs) face high rates of distress, experienced as burnout, moral distress, compassion fatigue, and grief. HCPs are also experiencing a crisis in meaning whereby distress is associated with disconnection from meaning in work and, in turn, a lack of meaning in work can further perpetuate distress for HCPs. Although scalable systems-level solutions are needed to tackle multidimensional HCP distress, it is also necessary to address HCP suffering at individual, team, and institutional levels. Targeted interventions to alleviate HCP distress are limited. Meaning-centered psychotherapy (MCP), a brief, evidence-based, intervention first developed for persons with advanced cancer, holds promise to mitigate HCP distress. This study adapted MCP for HCPs through feedback from a multidisciplinary sample of clinicians trained in MCP and working in healthcare settings. A survey was distributed electronically between November and December 2023 to HCPs previously trained in MCP assessing quantitative and qualitative feedback on the appropriateness of MCP for HCPs, the relevance of MCP session topics and exercises, and implementation barriers and facilitators. Descriptive statistics on relevant participant ratings were calculated; a matrix analysis approach was used for qualitative data. Forty participants, primarily mental health providers, expressed that MCP principles were highly relevant for HCPs and offered key insights on appropriate intervention modifications, including the need for a primary focus on meaning in professional life, reduced intervention length, and delivery in group format. Feedback informed critical adjustments to promote appropriateness and acceptability of MCP-HCP which is poised for pilot testing to determine its feasibility and preliminary efficacy for HCPs.
Keywords: burnout, professional; burnout, psychological; disenfranchised grief; grief; meaning-centered psychotherapy; moral injury.
Healthcare providers (HCPs) across disciplines have long experienced work-related distress only worsened by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. When experiencing distress, such as burnout, moral distress, compassion fatigue, and grief, they may also face a loss of meaning in their work which, in turn, can perpetuate their distress. Although health system changes, such as improved staffing and decreased workload, are needed to alleviate HCPs’ distress long-term, more focused interventions to support individuals, teams, and institutions are needed. Meaning-centered psychotherapy (MCP) was originally designed to support patients with advanced cancer to enhance their sense of meaning when experiencing cancer. This study sought expert multidisciplinary input to evaluate how MCP could be adapted to support HCPs in decreasing distress and increasing wellbeing. We surveyed 40 multidisciplinary HCPs who were trained in MCP and work in myriad practice settings about how to adapt and tailor MCP for HCPs in the future. Participants provided crucial input on intervention modification, emphasized the need to focus on meaning in professional life, reducing the length to meet the needs of busy HCPs, and delivering MCP in a group format. Their feedback led to important adjustments so MCP could be optimized for HCPs and pilot tested in the future.
© Society of Behavioral Medicine 2024. All rights reserved. For commercial re-use, please contact [email protected] for reprints and translation rights for reprints. All other permissions can be obtained through our RightsLink service via the Permissions link on the article page on our site—for further information please contact [email protected].