EFT for Nurses
Today, we review a paper published in 2020 in journal EXPLORE: The effect of Emotional Freedom Techniques on nurses' stress, anxiety, and burnout levels during the COVID-19 pandemic: A randomized controlled trial.
This controlled randomized trial was carried out in May 2020 in a university hospital in Turkey, with nurses caring for COVID-19 patients. The intervention group included 35 nurses and the control group (no intervention) included 37 nurses. The intervention consisted of a brief online form of EFT which was given during 20-minute group sessions of 5 nurses each. The controlled group was asked to stay comfortable in a calm and tranquil environment for the next 15 min.
Both groups were measured for stress, anxiety and burnout during the first and last third of their shift, while the intervention or control was applied during the second third of the shift. These measures included:
Subjective Units of Distress (or SUD) scale for Stress
State Anxiety Scale for Anxiety
Adapted standardized Burnout Scale for Burnout
The analyses were performed by a researcher who was blind to the group assignment. The results showed that a single 20-min session of EFT significantly reduced stress, anxiety, and burnout levels in nurses treating COVID-19 versus a simple rest for 15 min.
Although the durability of the outcomes was not part of this research, and sustainability of such intervention in frontline workers remains to be determined, the convenience of a short online delivery of EFT is a clear benefit to nurses whose time for self care is limited.
