EmotionAid® Research for Medical Professionals

Serving on the Frontlines of the Covid-19 Pandemic

Medical professionals are on the front lines in confronting the Covid-19 pandemic. This has taken a huge toll on their mental health and has led to increasing rates of burnout. The International Trauma Healing Institute – Israel (ITI-Israel) in partnership with Metiv Israel Psychotrauma Center and Rabin Medical Center, propose a field intervention and research study based on EmotionAid® . Publication of the method’s success in reducing physical and mental stress and preventing burnout for frontline responders will help health authorities in Israel and around the world ensure the continued functioning of the medical system and well-being of staff during times of pandemic and crisis.

The need

Similar to soldiers in battle, for many medical staff, the sustained, high-stress environment of a Covid-19 ward leads to anxiety, depression or even full break-down. Leading researchers have warned of long term damage to medical professionals and their diminished ability to provide quality care without psychological intervention (British Psychological Society Covid19 Staff Wellbeing Group, 2020; Greenberg, Docherty, Gnanapragasam, & Wessely, 2020).
Based on this need, confirmed by the current literature (see Lai, Ma, Wang, et al., 2020; Holmes, O’Connor, Perry, et al., 2020) and the call of 24 world-leading experts to develop innovative intervention models, we propose an intervention model based on EmotionAid® for medical professionals that can be applied during the crisis itself.

Goals and Objectives

Our goal at this stage is to create a proof of concept, whereby EmotionAid® intervention will be evaluated to show whether it can significantly assist medical professionals with their mental health during an ongoing crisis. Specific outcomes we are looking for include:

  • A boost in physical and emotion regulation
  • Decreased feelings of guilt and shame
  • Decreased symptoms of burnout
  • Decreased symptoms of compassion fatigue

EmotionAid® FOR MEDICAL PROFESSIONALS

The EmotionAid® intervention, provides medical professionals with first-aid tool for enhancing emotional self- regulation. These tools can be applied by anyone, anytime, and anywhere and help its practitioners lower stress levels and develop long term resiliency.

As of this writing, ITI and Metiv are in the midst of an EmotionAid® feasibility study with a few dozen medical professionals. Results are still pending, but this early stage study will allow ITI and Metiv staff to gather early feedback, finesse intervention techniques, and prepare for the second stage study.

108 doctors and nurses from Rabin Medical center will participate in the second stage study. Half of them will receive instructions based on EmotionAid® methodology, and the other half in the control group will receive counseling based on other mental health standards of care currently available.