An internet-based compassion course for healthcare professionals : Rationale and protocol for a randomised controlled trial

Background: Severe stress is one of the most common causes of sick leave in Sweden. Previous research hasshown that compassion interventions for healthcare professionals can decrease work-related stress through theintroduction of self-care, self-awareness, and emotion regulation abilities when experiencing difficult situations.Internet-based stress management interventions have hitherto shown promising results in reducing stress.However, further research is needed to examine the effectiveness of internet-based compassion interventions forhealthcare professionals.Objective: In the present study protocol, a randomised controlled trial is described, aiming to examine the effectsof an internet-based compassion course for healthcare professionals on work-related stress and stress ofconscience.Method: Healthcare professionals will be offered an internet-based stress management course of five modulesacross a period of five weeks. The design is a randomised controlled study consisting of three groups enrolled inone of the following: a compassion course (n = 120), a cognitive behavioural stress management course (n =120), or placed on a waitlist followed by either the compassion course or the cognitive behavioural stressmanagement course (n = 36). We hypothesise that the internet-based compassion course would reduce theparticipants’ stress of conscience to a greater degree compared to the other two groups. The secondary hypothesisis that the compassion course would increase the participants’ professional quality of life (i.e., higher jobsatisfaction and lower empathy fatigue) and self-compassion. In addition, the internet-based compassion courseis expected to reduce the participants’ work-related stress and sick leave rates to the same degree (non-inferiority)as the cognitive behavioural stress management course and to a higher degree when compared to thewaitlist condition. The primary outcome measure is the Stress of Conscience Questionnaire (SCQ) and the secondaryoutcome measures are the Professional Quality of Life Scale (PROQOL), the Work-related StressCopenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire (COPSOQ), and the Self-compassion Scale (SCS). Assessments will beperformed at baseline, four weekly assessments during treatment, post-treatment (5 weeks), and follow-ups at 10weeks, 15 weeks, and 6 months. The repeated measures data will be analysed using a generalised estimatingequation for repeated measurements to examine whether changes over time differ between the groups andwhether the improvements persist over time.Discussion: The clinical trial is expected to provide novel data on the effects of compassion interventions and addto the existing knowledge of internet-based interventions for stress management in healthcare professionals