Strengthening Health Literacy in Healthcare Workers Through Mind Body Medicine and Nutrition (SOULFOOD)

Universität Duisburg-Essen

Status: Enrolling

Conditions: Burnout; Stress Resilience; Burnout Syndrome; Stress

Treatments: Behavioral: SOULFOOD Programme

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT07255313

24-12325-BO

Details and patient eligibility

About

This is a randomized controlled trial aiming to develop and evaluate a workplace health program to improve stress resilience and mental well-being among healthcare workers at University Medicine Essen using a participatory research design (including a steering committee composed of hospital staff, needs assessment through focus groups, and pilot testing). The intervention combines mind-body medicine techniques, complementary medicine self-care strategies, and psycho-biotic nutrition. If successful, the program will be integrated into routine workplace health management and serve as a model for other healthcare institutions.

Full description

This participatory research study at University Medicine Essen aims to develop, implement, and evaluate a workplace health program to improve stress resilience and mental well-being among healthcare workers. Increasing stress, staff shortages, and high rates of sick leave negatively impact both employees and patient care, making a comprehensive and sustainable health program essential. To ensure the intervention meets employees' needs, the study is guided by a steering committee consisting of hospital staff from various departments, including occupational health management, sustainability management, reintegration services, and the nonscientific staff council. A preliminary needs assessment will be conducted through focus groups, allowing employees to provide input on key aspects such as session format, duration, and content. Furthermore, the intervention design will be tested in a pilot phase to ensure the design is feasible and accepted by the participants.

The intervention will be a multimodal program combining mind-body medicine techniques, complementary self-care, and psycho-biotic nutrition to enhance stress resilience and overall health. Mind-body medicine includes mindfulness and stress management techniques, while complementary self-care will focus on easily applicable techniques from Traditional European Medicine (TEM) and Traditional Indian Medicine (TIM). Psycho-biotic nutrition, based on the connection between gut health and mental well-being, aims to support emotional and cognitive health through dietary changes. The study will use a randomized controlled trial design, comparing an intervention group with a waitlist control group to evaluate effectiveness.

Beyond individual benefits, the study also seeks to identify workplace-level improvements by promoting mindfulness among employees and leadership regarding structural stressors. This includes optimizing communication, understanding one's thoughts and emotions, and improving workplace policies such as break structures to better support employee well-being. By integrating feedback from the needs assessment and the pilot phase, the study aims to develop a sustainable and evidence-based health program that can be incorporated into routine workplace health management at University Medicine Essen. If successful, the intervention will serve as a model for other healthcare institutions and may be implemented more broadly within the healthcare sector.

Enrollment: 252 estimated patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Age 18 years and older
• Employees of University Medicine Essen
• Moderate resilience of ≤ 144 points on the RS-25
• Willingness to practice at home and keep a practice diary

Exclusion criteria

• Insufficient German language skills
• Pregnancy and breastfeeding
• Severe comorbid mental disorders (e.g., substance use disorder, major depression) or other severe comorbid somatic diseases (e.g., oncological disease without remission, severe pre-existing cardiovascular disease, organ failure, other severe neurological disorders)
• Planned or ongoing pension application (e.g., disability pension, occupational disability, reduced earning capacity, severe disability)
• Concurrent participation in other clinical intervention studies

Trial design

Primary purpose: Prevention

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Single Blind

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252 participants in 2 patient groups

SOULFOOD Programme

Experimental group

Description:

This arm is a 10-week multimodal program designed to enhance resilience and health competencies. Participants engage in structured weekly intervention sessions lasting 2 hours and homework activities. These sessions are delivered in person, with flexible scheduling to accommodate work schedules. The intervention focuses on mind-body medicine, complementary medicine and nutrition. Core components include psycho-biotic nutrition, movement, relaxation techniques, and complementary self-care techniques. Each week covers a specific theme, such as mindful eating, emotional and stress regulation in the workplace, mindfulness, communication skills and social connections.

Treatment:

Behavioral: SOULFOOD Programme

Waitlist Control Group

No Intervention group

Description:

Participants in the waitlist control group do not receive any intervention during the 26-week waiting period. After this period, they will receive the same course program as the active intervention group.