Burn-OutRESPYRNCT07166510
Reducing Burnout in Healthcare Workers Through Yoga and Square Breathing Practices
A study testing Yoga and meditation in people with Burn-Out, run by Poitiers University Hospital at 2 sites in France.
Trial summary
The mental health of healthcare workers, burnout, and the resulting suicides are now described as a real "public health crisis." Emergency departments are not spared by this phenomenon; in fact, up to 71% of emergency physicians suffer from burnout. Read more about this study
- Who is it for?
- Ages 18 years and older
- Conditions the study is for
- Burn-Out
- What is being tested?
- Yoga and meditation
- Could I receive a placebo?
- No, everyone receives an active treatment
- How many people
- 75 participants
- Where
- 2 sitesFrance
- Study dates
- Jun 2026to Jul 2028
- Phase
- Interventional
Key requirements
Who can take part, as listed by the sponsor. Only the study team can confirm whether you are eligible, so take this list to your doctor.
- Ages 18 years and older
- All sexes
- No healthy volunteers
- Adult, Older adult
Who may be able to join
- Subjects aged 18 or over
- Subjects who have been working for at least one year in the emergency department/emergency medical service/mobile emergency and resuscitation service of the selected centers as a nursing assistant, paramedic, medical dispatch assistant, registered nurse, or doctor
- Subjects who are affiliated with or beneficiaries of a social security system
- Consent signed by the participant regarding their participation in the study
Who cannot join
- Physical or psychological contraindications to practicing yoga or mindfulness meditation.
- Subjects who reported having been on sick leave for at least three months due to burnout prior to inclusion in the study
- Subjects who reported currently being monitored and/or treated by a healthcare professional for burnout
- Subjects who reported practicing yoga or meditation regularly (more than one day per week over the last three months)
- Scheduled absence of at least 3 months (e.g., maternity leave, availability, etc.)
- Subjects who did not wish to participate in the study.
- People benefiting from enhanced protection, namely minors, people deprived of their liberty by a judicial or administrative decision, people staying in a health or social care facility, and adults under legal protection.
Trial locations and contacts
2 sites in 1 country. Contact the study team or a site near you to ask about taking part.
France2 sites, 2 recruiting
- Not yet recruiting
Bordeaux University Hospital
Bordeaux
- Recruiting
Poitiers University Hospital
Poitiers
About this study
Official title: Reducing Burnout in Caregivers Through Yoga and Square Breathing Practices
The mental health of healthcare workers, burnout, and the resulting suicides are now described as a real "public health crisis." Emergency departments are not spared by this phenomenon; in fact, up to 71% of emergency physicians suffer from burnout. All professions are affected, with 49.2% of nurses reportedly affected by this phenomenon, and this figure rises to 90.7% of nursing assistants and 30% of paramedics providing advanced life support. However, ensuring the safety and protecting the physical and mental health of workers is a legal obligation in France.
In their latest recommendation on human factors in critical situations, SFAR experts suggest "limiting the factors responsible for burnout among caregivers exposed to crisis situations in order to reduce the risk of errors and unprofessional behavior." To achieve this, the importance of taking breaks in emergency medicine is already well recognized, and it is recommended that participants be given permission to take care of themselves through an agreement negotiated with peers and other staff members.
Read more
Furthermore, for several years now, the benefits of yoga in managing stress among healthcare workers seem to have been confirmed. Yoga is effective in reducing depression and anxiety, and it also improves sleep and clinical performance. It has also been shown to significantly reduce scores on the depersonalization and personal accomplishment items of the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI).
In addition, mindfulness meditation (MPC), based in particular on various breathing techniques including square breathing, is increasingly being studied, and SFAR experts suggest, with the help of these methods in particular, that "healthcare teams faced with critical situations benefit from psychological preparation for stress management to improve their experience and performance in such critical situations." Sudarshan Kriya Yoga, a technique that focuses primarily on breathing rhythm, has also been shown to be effective in improving well-being and reducing burnout among physicians.
Finally, yoga and mindfulness meditation administered together are effective in reducing stress and anxiety among healthcare workers, giving them greater attention, alertness, and ability to manage the stressful demands of work.
However, the combination of these two techniques through the implementation of video-guided breaks combining both techniques has never been studied.
- Conditions
- Burn-Out
- Being tested
- Yoga and meditation
- Keywords
- yoga, square breathing, emergency department
- Medical subject headings
- Burnout, Psychological, Emergencies
What participants receive
What participants receive. In a randomised study each person is assigned to one group by chance.
Yoga and meditationOther
For 12 months, with no restrictions or imposed frequency, as often as the participant feels the need. They can take individual or group video-guided 15-minute breaks to do tailored yoga exercises targeting areas affected by repetitive movements, fatigue, and stress (hands, wrists, shoulders, and back), or mindfulness meditation sessions focused on managing fatigue, transitioning at the end of a shift, and post-shock relaxation.
| Study group | Role | What they receive |
|---|---|---|
| Emergency departement staff | Other | Emergency departement staff (nursing assistant, paramedic, medical dispatch assistant, registered nurse, physician) Receives: Other: Yoga and meditation |
What is being measured
The primary outcome is the main question the study is designed to answer.
Evaluate the impact after 6 months of implementing breaks consisting of 15-minute video-guided yoga or meditation sessions on burnout among emergency department staff at participating centers.
Proportion of participants experiencing burnout at 6 months, compared to inclusion.
Burnout is defined as a high score on the emotional exhaustion scale (≥27) and either: a high score on the depersonalization scale (≥10), or a low score on the personal accomplishment scale (≤33), according to the standard thresholds of the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI-HSS).
Measured: 6 months
Secondary outcomes (4)
Assess the change in the proportion of participants experiencing burnout at 3 months (M3) and 12 months (M12), using the same composite definition as that used for the primary endpoint.
Proportion of participants experiencing burnout at 3 months and 12 months, according to the same composite definition as for the primary endpoint
Measured: 3 months and 12 months
Explore the evolution of continuous scores for the three dimensions of burnout (emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, personal accomplishment), measured by the MBI-HSS, between inclusion (T0), 3 months, 6 months, and 12 months.
Changes in continuous scores obtained on each of the three subscales of the Maslach Burnout Inventory (emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, personal accomplishment) between inclusion (T0), 3 months, 6 months, and 12 months.
Measured: From enrollment to 12 months
Assess the impact of the intervention on participants' quality of life, via changes in SF-12 mental and physical scores collected at baseline, then at 3, 6, and 12 months.
Changes in average scores obtained on the physical and mental components of the SF-12 between inclusion, 3 months, 6 months, and 12 months.
Measured: From enrollment to 12 months
Assess adherence to the program, based on the initial participation rate and the persistence rate until the end of the study, among healthcare personnel in the emergency departments of participating centers.
Initial participation rate, defined as the number of participants who agreed to participate in the study relative to the total number of eligible professionals.
Effective participation rate, defined as the number of participants who continued the intervention until the end of the study relative to the number of participants initially included.
Measured: From enrollment to 12 months
Timeline
From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.
- First posted10 Sep 2025
- Study startJun 2026 (estimated)
- Primary completionDec 2027 (estimated)
- Study completionJul 2028 (estimated)
Resources
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govThe registry entry this page is built from, with its full change history.
- Other trials for Burn-OutStudies of the same condition, open and under way.
- What the trial phases meanHow a treatment moves from first tests in people to approval.
More details
For doctors and researchers: how the study is designed, who runs it, and its registry IDs.
Study design
- Study type
- Interventional
- Phase
- Phase N/A
- Primary purpose
- Prevention
- Allocation
- Not applicable
- Intervention model
- Single group
- Masking
- None (open label)
- Enrolment
- 75 participants (estimated)
Sponsor and investigators
- Lead sponsor
- Poitiers University Hospital
- Sponsor type
- University, hospital or other
- Responsible party
- Sponsor
IDs, dates and publications
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT07166510
- Sponsor's protocol ID
- 2025-A00849-40
- Acronym
- RESPYR
- Status last verified
- Jun 2026
- First submitted
- 3 Sep 2025
- Last updated
- 9 Jun 2026
- Results posted
- No
- Data monitoring committee
- No
- FDA-regulated drug
- No
- FDA-regulated device
- No
- Individual data sharing
- No