Somatic Mindfulness Training for a Healthy Workforce

NIH RePORTER · NIH · P20 · $158,610 · view on reporter.nih.gov ↗

Abstract

This proposal requests support to expand ongoing research of occupational-based secondary trauma (ST) among victim service providers in Montana. ST is a significant problem because it impacts providers' mental and physical health, exacerbates staff turnover and shortages in providers, and decreases the efficacy of service provision for victims (1-3). Addressing ST is challenging. Determining even the prevalence of ST is not easy given correlates like historical trauma, adverse childhood experiences, and ongoing adversities, which make it difficult to disaggregate predictors, proximal symptoms, and distal outcomes. Our work (4-5), along with gaps in the literature (6-9), suggests that sound epidemiological data are needed, and that longitudinal research and randomized controlled trials (RCTs) are nonexistent. In previous phases of our study, we (a) collected qualitative data from a statewide victim needs assessment (n=158); (b) coauthored, with our community advisory boards (CABs), two “toolkits” that were disseminated and positively evaluated at four training retreats for providers in Blackfeet Nation and Bozeman (n=178, p<.01); and (c) collected epidemiological data on ST and health from local providers (nested within victim service organizations) and from comparisons (n=1190). Lastly, (d) we are nearly finished with a pilot RCT (treatment n=41 and control=32) that is testing feasibility and acceptability of a psychosocial intervention focused on the body’s neurophysiological response to ST and related mindfulness practices using four waves of longitudinal data collection. The next step, the objective of the proposed research (Year 1), involves analyzing the quantitative data we have collected to document ST as an occupational hazard and public health concern and then disseminating those results to raise local, state, and national awareness about ST and its health consequences (Aim 1). We will integrate the findings to improve the efficacy of our intervention and pilot a redesign intended for remote implementation (Aim 2) to further our goal of applying for external RPG funding (Aim 3). We hypothesize that ST is related to health risks and that these can be mitigated. If our hypotheses are supported, this research will challenge occupational and public health paradigms by increasing awareness, normalization, and knowledge of ST. The project will be able to offer a somatic mindfulness intervention needed to help create a healthy workforce. The entire intervention (needs assessment, toolkit, trainings, evaluation, and outcome study) should prove to be practical, sustainable, and relatively easy to adapt in other communities.

Key facts

NIH application ID
10233835
Project number
5P20GM104417-07
Recipient
MONTANA STATE UNIVERSITY - BOZEMAN
Principal Investigator
Kelly Knight
Activity code
P20
Funding institute
NIH
Fiscal year
2020
Award amount
$158,610
Award type
5
Project period
2019-09-01 → 2024-08-31