JAMA Network Open (09/19/24) Sexton, Bryan; Adair, Kathryn C.

A randomized clinical trial involving more than 600 healthcare workers (HCWs) sought to determine the effects of a five-hour web-based continuing education intervention on participants' well-being. The Well-Being Essentials for Learning Life-Balance (WELL-B) program features short, evidence-based, psychological interventions that aim to enhance four dimensions of healthcare worker well-being. These include emotional exhaustion, emotional thriving, emotional recovery, and work-life integration. For the study, 643 participants were randomized to receive 5 hours of WELL-B over 8 days (cohort 1) or to a control group that received WELL-B after the end of the randomized controlled trial (cohort 2). In cohort 1, 71% of the 331 participants initiated WELL-B and completed the day 8 follow-up, while 77% of the 312 participants in cohort 2 initiated the program and completed the day 8 follow-up. On day 8, emotional exhaustion — the primary outcome — was significantly improved among individuals who participated in the WELL-B program compared with those in the control cohort. The program also improved emotional thriving, emotional recovery, and work-life integration. More than 90% of participants also reported positive impressions of the WELL-B program. "Although initiating any well-being intervention among busy HCWs can be a challenge, WELL-B used a continuing education format to pause and reflect on well-being through assessment, feedback, and engagement in a low-intensity positive psychology activity," the researchers report. "This free intervention was brief, simple, highly valued, and evidence-based, and caused improvement within 8 days."

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