Web-based mindfulness course for staff working in care homes in Wales for older people with dementia: Stepped-wedge trial

Christine Baker; Michael S. Dennis; Muhammad Saifal Islam; Ian T Russell; Peter Huxley

doi:10.1921/swssr.v25i1.2300

Authors

Christine Baker Swansea University Medical School
Michael S. Dennis Swansea University https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1241-7375
Muhammad Saifal Islam
Ian T Russell
Peter Huxley Bangor University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1921/swssr.v25i1.2300

Keywords:

dementia, care homes, care staff, mindfulness, quality of life, stress, stepped wedge cluster randomised design

Abstract

Design and intervention: Before-and-after evaluation of web-based mindfulness training
for staff caring for people living with dementia in care homes. Stepped-wedge cluster
randomised design.
Setting and participants: Random sample of 31 care homes for people living with dementia.
Homes started mindfulness training at a random time over 35 weeks. From these
homes 172 staff volunteered, 151 (88%) started training, and 111 (67%) completed
questionnaires after 20 weeks.
Methods: Questionnaires completed at baseline, 8 and 20 weeks included job stress (WSI)
and health and well-being (SF-12).
Results: There were significant reductions in job stress of 0.07 (95% confidence interval
[CI]: 0.02, 0.13) at 8 weeks and 0.06 (95% CI: 0.01, 0.11) at 20 weeks; and improvements
of 2.49 points (95% CI: 0.81, 4.17) in the SF-12 Mental Component Score at 8 weeks
and 3.41 (95% CI: 1.88, 4.94) at 20 weeks.
Conclusions: Web-based mindfulness training improved the psychological well-being
of care home staff and reduced their stress with small to moderate effects in both short
and medium term

Author Biographies

Christine Baker, Swansea University Medical School

Christine’s early career was working as a qualified nurse in the NHS. Within the academic field she has worked on a number of projects relating to health and social care particularly of older people. She has also worked with Professor Huxley for several years on research relating to mental health and social work.

Michael S. Dennis, Swansea University

Mick Dennis is Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry for Older People at Swansea University.
He was previously a Consultant Psychiatrist for Older People in Swansea and Leicester.
Over the years he has been involved in research in many different areas, particularly
suicide and self-harm (epidemiology, social and psychological factors); dementia
(dementia care and vascular cognitive impairment); and mental health in the context of
poor physical health (‘Psychological Medicine’).

Muhammad Saifal Islam

Muhammad Saiful Islamhas been working over 10 years in clinical trials and roughly 15 years as an applied statistician in health care. He has completed a BSc, MSc, and PhD in Applied Statistics. He has authored more than 25 peer reviewed journal articles, acted as a statistical reviewer for NIHR HTA program for about 8 years. He has also authored many Standard Operating Procedures, Statistical Analysis Plans and regulatory submission reports. Beside focusing as a trial statistician, he taught several Statistical and clinical trial courses in BSc and MSc level and supervised MSc students in his career. Currently, his research focuses on oncology and expertise in HTA submission.

Ian T Russell

The late Professor Ian Russell (1944-2022) was an eminent health
researcher. Ian originally studied mathematics at Birmingham University and then
completed a PhD in Health Services Research at Essex. He was renowned for his
innovative and pragmatic approach to the design and conduct of trials and the use of
complex methods to inform health care delivery and policy decisions. Stepped-wedge
trial design was an area of particular expertise. Over the lengthy period of his career, he
published over 340 peer-reviewed publications. Ian founded departments at Aberdeen,
York, Bangor, and Swansea Universities. Additionally, he was founding Director of
Research & Development in Wales, and chair of the Commissioning Board for the Health
& Technology Assessment, NHS Executive (1993-1996).

Peter Huxley, Bangor University

Peter Huxley is a sociologist and a trained psychiatric social worker. He completed his MSc and PhD under the supervision of Professor Sir David Goldberg. Together they wrote two influential texts on the pathway to psychiatric care and common mental disorders (1980 and 1992 respectively). He was the first Professor of Psychiatric Social Work in the UK, at Manchester University, where he later became the head of the School of Psychiatry. In 1999 he moved to the Institute of Psychiatry in London where he was the first Professor of Social Work. While in London he was the founding Director the DH funded Social Care Workforce Research Unit. He moved to the Centre for Mental Health and Society at Bangor University in 2014, where he is Co-Director.

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Date of first (online) publication:11th April 2024