Caring Canines: Tackling the Problem of Burnout Among Healthcare Workers

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.14574/9cbhjj68

Keywords:

Animal-assisted therapy,, burnout, mood, healthcare workers, rural nurses

Abstract

Purpose: Stress-reducing activities have been known to lower turnover and improve employee mood. Animal-assisted therapy (AAT) has been used to help patients through stressful situations; however, little research exists on the impact that AAT has on rural healthcare workers. The purpose of this project was to develop and implement an AAT program at three rural clinics in northern Illinois and assess the program's association with employee mood and burnout.

Sample: Sixty-five percent (n=28) employees participated in the study. However, two were lost to attrition.

Method: A dog-based AAT intervention was developed and implemented at three rural clinics. During the intervention, all participants were allowed to interact with the therapy dog for an undetermined amount of time over the lunch hour for ten sessions. The intervention was evaluated using a pre/post-test design. Burnout was measured using The Copenhagen Burnout Inventory (CBI) at the beginning and end of the intervention, and mood was assessed using a one-item question before and after each session.

Findings: A paired sample t-test was used to assess changes in the three subscales of the CBI from the start to the end of the study and to identify mood changes. There was not a significant change in personal or work-related burnout. However, there was a decrease in client-related burnout from the beginning of the intervention (m=50.78, ±30.17) to the end (m=39.32, ±26.57, p<.001).  In addition, average employee mood improved by 49.62% (p</=.004) after each session.

Conclusion: This pilot study suggests that implementing AAT within a rural clinic setting might improve healthcare worker (HCW) mood and decrease the risk of client-related burnout. More research is needed to determine the long-term impacts of these programs and their association with HCW well-being. 

Author Biographies

  • Gretchen Wojtas-Johnson, RN, Saint Anthony College of Nursing

    DNP Student

  • Matthew Dalstrom, PhD, MPH, Saint Anthony College of Nursing

    Professor

  • Rebecca A. Parizek, PhD, RN, CNL, Saint Anthony College of Nursing

    Associate Professor

  • Lynette Castronovo, DNP, APRN, GNP-BC, Saint Anthony College of Nursing

    Assistant Professor

Downloads

Published

2024-12-10

Issue

Vol. 24 No. 2 (2024): Online Journal of Rural Nursing and Health Care, 24 (2)

Section

Articles

License

Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:

  1. Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share (for non-commerical purposes) the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
  2. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
  3. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).