Well-being of nursing home professional caregivers: testing a positive psychological intervention

With major job demands such as workload, professional caregivers in nursing homes are at increased risk for stress related problems like burnout. As such job demands will most likely not decrease in the near future, attention should be shifted towards resilience of all professional caregivers by focusing on increasing personal resources. The purpose of this study was to test a generic online positive psychology intervention in increasing both general wellbeing and work related wellbeing for professional caregivers of somatic units of four nursing homes. This study had a group-randomized controlled design (intervention group n = 74, control group n = 47). The intervention consisted of reading information and doing exercises of 8 themes of positive psychology (e.g. strengths, positive relations) in 12 weeks. Questionnaires on work related wellbeing (Utrecht Work Engagement Scale), general wellbeing (Mental Health Continuum) and burnout (Utrecht BurnOut Scale) were filled out online at baseline and 3 months later (T1). Mixed ANOVAs showed no significant increase in work related wellbeing (p = .61) or general wellbeing (p = .37) of the intervention group compared to the control group. Burnout and engagement at baseline were not significant moderators (p’s > .40). Providing professional caregivers of nursing homes with an online generic positive psychological intervention did not increase work related wellbeing or general wellbeing, even for caregivers most at risk for stress related problems. Possible alternative explanations such as ceiling effects, lack of intrinsic motivation and high workload as well as practical implications are discussed.