The WISER Study: Web Based Methods for Enhancing Resilience

NCT05636072 | Recruiting

• 1 other identifier: Pro00063703
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 8,000
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

This is a research study to find out if web-based resilience tools can increase well-being. Enrolled participants will try out one or more brief positive psychology tools. The tools ask participants to reflect on positive experiences or to do an activity (e.g., write a letter of gratitude). The study is entirely online and participants will be prompted to participate via email or text messages. The study team is interested in the effects of the tools on stress, depression, and burnout in adults. A set of brief surveys are administered before and after using the tool, and again at follow-up periods (e.g., 1, 3, 6 and 12 months). Surveys are collected electronically using the secure, HIPAA-compliant survey software. There is no direct benefit to participants for participating in this research study aside from the potential to experience improvements in well-being. Risks are minimal and include the potential to feel emotional or psychological distress when asked questions related to burnout.

Conditions

Burnout

Keywords

Burnout; Well-being; Behavioral Health

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Change in Emotional Exhaustion as measured by the 5-item Emotional Exhaustion Scale

  Survey scores are measured on a 1-5 Likert-like agreement scale.

  Baseline, Day 8, and 1, 6, and 12 month follow-ups

Secondary Outcomes (2)

• Change in Emotional Recovery as measured by the 4-item Emotional Recovery Scale

  Baseline, Day 8, and 1, 6, and 12 month follow-ups

• Change in Work-life Integration as measured by the 7-item Work-life Integration Scale

  Baseline, Day 8, and 1, 6, and 12 month follow-ups

Study Arms (2)

Treatment Immediately

EXPERIMENTAL

Participants will engage in well-being tools immediately for 1-week.

Behavioral: WISER

Waitlist Control

NO INTERVENTION

Participants will wait 1 week to begin the well-being tools.

Interventions

WISER BEHAVIORAL

Participants will engage in one or more positive psychology well-being tool(s).

Treatment Immediately

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years+
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• Adults 18 and over are considered eligible for the study. A sub-sample will include employees (including but not limited to frontline caregivers, support staff and management) of the Duke University Health System, as well as external health systems. All participants will be invited to participate in one or more of the online tools. The investigators will allow the participation of any clinical areas/healthcare worker groups whose leaders express interest in building resilience. The investigators are targeting healthcare workers for recruitment in the study, but adults 18+ are eligible to participate in any of these tools. Identification as a healthcare worker or not is part of data collection in every tool.

You may not qualify if:

• Adults who are not proficient in English, do not have basic computer skills, or who have prohibitive vision or hearing disabilities will be excluded from this study as they will be incapable of full participation in the intervention and/or the survey process.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Duke University: lead

Study Sites (1)

Duke University Health System

Durham, North Carolina, 27707, United States

RECRUITING

Related Publications (5)

• Seligman ME, Steen TA, Park N, Peterson C. Positive psychology progress: empirical validation of interventions. Am Psychol. 2005 Jul-Aug;60(5):410-21. doi: 10.1037/0003-066X.60.5.410.

  PMID: 16045394 BACKGROUND

• Profit J, Adair KC, Cui X, Mitchell B, Brandon D, Tawfik DS, Rigdon J, Gould JB, Lee HC, Timpson WL, McCaffrey MJ, Davis AS, Pammi M, Matthews M, Stark AR, Papile LA, Thomas E, Cotten M, Khan A, Sexton JB. Randomized controlled trial of the "WISER" intervention to reduce healthcare worker burnout. J Perinatol. 2021 Sep;41(9):2225-2234. doi: 10.1038/s41372-021-01100-y. Epub 2021 Aug 9.

  PMID: 34366432 BACKGROUND

• Adair KC, Kennedy LA, Sexton JB. Three Good Tools: Positively reflecting backwards and forwards is associated with robust improvements in well-being across three distinct interventions. J Posit Psychol. 2020;15(5):613-622. doi: 10.1080/17439760.2020.1789707. Epub 2020 Jul 9.

  PMID: 34295357 BACKGROUND

• Sexton JB, Adair KC, Cui X, Tawfik DS, Profit J. Effectiveness of a bite-sized web-based intervention to improve healthcare worker wellbeing: A randomized clinical trial of WISER. Front Public Health. 2022 Dec 8;10:1016407. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2022.1016407. eCollection 2022.

  PMID: 36568789 BACKGROUND

• Sexton JB, Adair KC. Well-Being Outcomes of Health Care Workers After a 5-Hour Continuing Education Intervention: The WELL-B Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Netw Open. 2024 Sep 3;7(9):e2434362. doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.34362.

  PMID: 39298170 BACKGROUND

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Burnout, Psychological

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Stress, Psychological; Behavioral Symptoms; Behavior

Study Officials

• John B Sexton, PhD

  Duke

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Central Study Contacts

John B Sexton, PhD

CONTACT

+1 919 681 4949; bryan.sexton@duke.edu

Kathryn C Adair, PhD

CONTACT

+1 919 681 4949; Kathryn.C.Adair@duke.edu

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: SINGLE
• Who Masked: PARTICIPANT
• Purpose: TREATMENT
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR

Model Details: Waitlist control group Randomized Control Design

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: November 23, 2022
• First Posted: December 5, 2022
• Study Start: November 1, 2022
• Primary Completion (Estimated): December 31, 2027
• Study Completion (Estimated): December 31, 2027
• Last Updated: April 8, 2026

Record last verified: 2026-04

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

US (1)