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© The Author(s) 2020. corrected publication 2020. This work is published under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.

Abstract

Background

Perceived high chronic stress is twice as prevalent among German general practitioners (GPs) and non-physician medical staff compared to the general population. The reasons are multi-factorial and include patient, practice, healthcare system and societal factors, such as multi-morbidity, the diversity of populations and innovations in medical care. Also, practice-related factors, like stressful patient-staff interactions, poor process management of waiting times and lack of leadership, play a role. This publicly funded study evaluates the effectiveness of the newly developed participatory, interdisciplinary, and multimodal IMPROVEjob intervention on improving job satisfaction among general practice personnel. The intervention aims at structural stress prevention with regard to working conditions and behavioural stress prevention for leaders and other practice personnel.

Methods

In this cluster-randomised controlled trial, a total of 56 general practices will be assigned to either (1) participation in the IMPROVEjob intervention or (2) the waiting-list control group. The IMPROVEjob intervention consists of the following elements: three workshops, a toolbox with supplemental material and an implementation period with regular contact to so-called IMPROVEjob facilitators. The first workshop, addressing leadership issues, is designed for physicians with leadership responsibilities only. The two subsequent workshops target all GP and non-physician personnel; they address issues of communication (with patients and within the team), self-care and team-care and practice organisation. During the 9-month implementation period, practices will be contacted by IMPROVEjob facilitators to enhance motivation. Additionally, the practices will have access to the toolbox materials online. All participants will complete questionnaires at baseline and follow up. The primary outcome is the change in job satisfaction as measured by the respective scale of the validated German version of the Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire (COPSOQ, version 2018). Secondary outcomes obtained by questionnaires and - qualitatively - by facilitators comprise psychosocial working conditions including leadership aspects, expectations and experiences of the workshops, team and individual efforts and organisational changes.

Discussion

It is hypothesised that participation in the IMPROVEjob intervention will improve job satisfaction and thus constitute a structural and behavioural prevention strategy for the promotion of psychological wellbeing of personnel in general practices and prospectively in other small and medium sized enterprises.

Trial registration

German Clinical Trials Register: DRKS00012677. Registered on 16 October 2019. Retrospectively, https://www.drks.de/drks_web/navigate.do?navigationId=trial. HTML&TRIAL_ID = DRKS00012677.

Details

Title
IMPROVEjob – Participatory intervention to improve job satisfaction of general practice teams: a model for structural and behavioural prevention in small and medium-sized enterprises – a study protocol of a cluster-randomised controlled trial
Author
Weltermann, Birgitta M. 1   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Kersting, Christine 2 ; Pieper, Claudia 3 ; Seifried-Dübon, Tanja 4 ; Dreher, Annegret 5 ; Linden, Karen 5 ; Rind, Esther 6 ; Ose, Claudia 7 ; Jöckel, Karl-Heinz 8 ; Junne, Florian 4 ; Werners, Brigitte 9 ; Schroeder, Verena 10 ; Bois, Jean-Marie 10 ; Siegel, Achim 6 ; Thielmann, Anika 5 ; Rieger, Monika A. 6 ; Kasten, Stefanie 5 ; Rieger, M. A.; Rind, E.; Siegel, A.; Wagner, A.; Tsarouha, E.; Weltermann, B.; Kasten, S.; Linden, K.; Degen, L.; Thielmann, A.; Junne, F.; Seifried-Dübon, T.; Hermann-Werners, A.; Stuber, F.; Zipfel, S.; Werners, B.; Grot, M.; Jöckel, K-H; Pieper, C.; Schröder, V.; Bois, J-M; Eilerts, A-L; Brinkmann, M.; Kersting, C.; Emerich, S.; Burgess, S.; Hippler, M.; Dreher, A.; Ose, C.; Koppka, L.; Block, J.

 University Hospital Bonn, University of Bonn, Institute of General Practice and Family Medicine, Bonn, Germany; University Hospital Essen, University of Duisburg-Essen, Institute for General Medicine, Essen, Germany 
 University Hospital Essen, University of Duisburg-Essen, Institute for General Medicine, Essen, Germany 
 University Hospital Essen, University of Duisburg-Essen, Institute for Medical Informatics, Biometry and Epidemiology, Essen, Germany 
 University Hospital Tuebingen, Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, Tuebingen, Germany (GRID:grid.411544.1) (ISNI:0000 0001 0196 8249) 
 University Hospital Bonn, University of Bonn, Institute of General Practice and Family Medicine, Bonn, Germany (GRID:grid.411544.1) 
 University Hospital Tuebingen, Institute of Occupational and Social Medicine and Health Services Research, Tuebingen, Germany (GRID:grid.411544.1) (ISNI:0000 0001 0196 8249) 
 University Hospital Essen, University of Duisburg-Essen, Center for Clinical Trials, Essen, Germany (GRID:grid.411544.1) 
 University Hospital Essen, University of Duisburg-Essen, Institute for Medical Informatics, Biometry and Epidemiology, Essen, Germany (GRID:grid.411544.1); University Hospital Essen, University of Duisburg-Essen, Center for Clinical Trials, Essen, Germany (GRID:grid.411544.1) 
 Ruhr University Bochum, Institute for Operations Research, Bochum, Germany (GRID:grid.5570.7) (ISNI:0000 0004 0490 981X) 
10  University Hospital Essen, University of Duisburg-Essen, Center for Clinical Trials, Essen, Germany (GRID:grid.5570.7) 
Pages
532
Publication year
2020
Publication date
Dec 2020
Publisher
BioMed Central
e-ISSN
17456215
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
2730331240
Copyright
© The Author(s) 2020. corrected publication 2020. This work is published under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.