Effect of Balint Group Combined with MBSR on Psychological Crisis of Nurses in Public Health Emergencies: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Abstract

Zhaoming Cao, Bei Wang, Huijun Zhang

Background: It has been more than three years since the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic in China in late 2019. During this period, all Chinese nurses who fight the front lines during the pandemic have been subjected to enormous mental and psychological pressure. How to maintain their mental health during the epidemic period and enable them to relax themselves after high intensity work so as to ensure the quality of their work is necessary. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of a training table which combined Balint group and MBSR on maintaining the mental health of nurses during the pandemic.
Methods: This was a prospective, single-blind, randomized, controlled trial. Totally 112 nurses were randomly assigned to the intervention group (n = 56) with an 8-week group training, the control group (n = 56) received routine psychological counselling services. The outcomes were assessed at pre-and post-training intervention with the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire, the Chinese Perceived Stress Scale, the Maslach Burnout Inventory - Human Services Survey, and Ryff’s Scales of Psychological Well-being. Results: At the pre-training intervention, the scores of FFMQ, PSS, MBI and SPWB for both groups suggest the high burnout, pressure and low psychological well-being for participants. At the post-training intervention, the scores of PSS and MBI for the intervention group were significantly lower than the control group.
Conclusions: Using “empathy circle” to vent emotions reasonably and effectively, and then combined with mindfulness decompression to relieve tension can improve nurses’ mindfulness level and work in a stable emotional state. Combination of Balint group and mindfulness decompression also provides a new idea to alleviate the psychological pressure of nurses, The training table can be extended to other regions or countries to relieve the mental and psychological pressure of nurses or the other medical staff in emergency public health events.

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