Emotion Regulation Skill Program: Impact on Emotion Regulation, Experiential Avoidance & Compassion Fatigue

Hacettepe University

Status: Not yet enrolling

Conditions: Emotion Regulation Abilities; Compassion Fatigue; Experiential Avoidance; Emotion Regulation

Treatments: Behavioral: The Skill Development Program for Emotion Regulation

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT06766682

AYCAN KAYALAR

Details and patient eligibility

About

In this study, the effects of the skills development program for regulating emotions applied to oncology nurses on oncology nurses' emotion regulation, experiential avoidance, and comorbidity fatigue will be examined. The research will be conducted as a randomized controlled experimental study with pretest-posttest and follow-up design.

Full description

Cancer has profound emotional, psychological, and behavioral impacts on patients and caregivers. Oncology nurses, while providing care, often experience feelings of helplessness, sadness, anxiety, and anger. Shift work-induced insomnia and irregular living patterns can impair emotional regulation, negatively affecting nurses' ability to provide holistic care, make effective decisions, and maintain professional interactions. Emotional recognition and management skills are critical for nurses engaged in long-term care processes. Emotional regulation involves identifying, understanding, and managing emotional responses, encompassing awareness, appropriate management, and expression. Ineffective emotional regulation may lead to difficulties in coping with emotional challenges and increase the risk of developing disorders such as depression and anxiety.

The literature highlights that emotional regulation strategies, which involve specific skills to modify emotional experiences, play a significant role in the development of various psychopathological disorders and affect mental health. Maladaptive strategies such as experiential avoidance-defined as avoiding situations or thoughts to escape distressing emotions-have been linked to increased risks of anxiety, depression, and burnout. Effective emotional regulation strategies are crucial for maintaining mental health and influencing behaviors. Increased experiential avoidance among healthcare workers has been associated with higher levels of burnout.

Empathy is a cornerstone of psychosocial care for patients and their families in oncology clinics. However, failure to regulate emotions during empathetic interactions can result in compassion fatigue, characterized by physical and emotional exhaustion, anger, disengagement, reduced job performance, and patient dissatisfaction. Effective emotional regulation supports the delivery of empathetic care and protects the psychosocial well-being of nurses. Emotional regulation enhances individuals' emotional awareness and enables more conscious and controlled management of emotions. This study aims to investigate the impact of an emotional regulation skills development program on oncology nurses' emotional regulation difficulties, experiential avoidance, and compassion fatigue in challenging work environments.

Enrollment: 66 estimated patients

Sex: All

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Volunteering to participate in the research
• Working in the specified units for at least six months
• Not having a disease or disability would make it difficult for them to understand the program and data collection tools and to apply the skills.

Exclusion criteria

• Having received or currently receiving individual or group psychotherapy/counseling program within the last six months
• Requesting to withdraw from the study at any stage of the research
• Regularly missing two consecutive group sessions
• Failure to attend three or more sessions in total

Trial design

Primary purpose: Prevention

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Single Blind

---

66 participants in 2 patient groups

The Skill Development Program for Emotion Regulation

Experimental group

Description:

The Skill Development Program for Emotion Regulation to be carried out with the intervention group consists of 6 sessions. The sessions are planned to be held in 3 groups of 11 people. The duration of a session is planned to be 90 minutes. Sessions will be completed in three weeks, twice a week. Sessions will be face-to-face. The session of the same group will be held on the same day and time every week.

Treatment:

Behavioral: The Skill Development Program for Emotion Regulation

Control Group

No Intervention group

Description:

After the follow-up tests were completed for the nurses in the control group, the 6-session skill program applied to the intervention group was planned to be applied in the same way within their wishes.