SOS Inpatients: a pilot study of enhanced support, openness and supervision for staff working on adult mental health wards

ISRCTN	ISRCTN96754763
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1186/ISRCTN96754763
Protocol serial number	N/A
Sponsor	Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust (UK)
Funder	Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust (UK) - Innovation Fund

Submission date: 03/09/2010
Registration date: 17/03/2011
Last edited: 17/05/2017

Recruitment status: No longer recruiting
Overall study status: Completed
Condition category: Mental and Behavioural Disorders

Prospectively registered

Protocol

Statistical analysis plan

Results

Individual participant data

Record updated in last year

Plain English summary of protocol

Not provided at time of registration

Contact information

Ms Anna Maratos
Scientific

CNWL Trust Head of Arts Therapies
Community Mental Health Services
7a Woodfield Road
London
W9 2NW
United Kingdom

Study information

Primary study design	Interventional
Study design	Pilot randomised controlled trial
Secondary study design	Randomised controlled trial
Study type	Participant information sheet
Scientific title	A pilot randomised controlled trial of enhanced support, openness and supervision for staff working on adult mental health wards
Study acronym	SOS
Study objectives	Primary hypothesis: One year after randomisation, staff working on mental health wards that receive interventions aimed at enhancing support, openness and supervision for staff will experience lower levels of burnout than those working on wards that do not. Secondary hypothesis: One year after randomisation, levels of staff turnover, staff sickness and use of agency staff will be lower on mental health wards that receive interventions aimed at enhancing support, openness and supervision for staff than on wards that do not. Tertiary hypothesis: One year after randomisation, the number of untoward incidents as recorded by incident report forms, will be lower on wards where staff receive enhanced support and supervision compared to wards that do not.
Ethics approval(s)	West London Research Ethics Committee 2, 20/09/2010, ref:10/H0711/62
Health condition(s) or problem(s) studied	Mental health
Intervention	A modified cognitive analytic therapy approach to clinical supervision for ward staff in groups. Entitled 'Sharing, Openness and Supervision', this aims to change ward culture so that morale is improved with a positive effect on patient care. The treatment arm will comprise one group per week of 1.5 hours clinical supervision for the ward team including staff members from all disciplines and from the ward leadership including at least one of ward manager, consultant and modern matron. Registered will be taken to record attendance and fidelity to this model. The clinical supervision groups will be run according to a Cognitive Analytic Therapy approach, adapted to this context. Please note that there is only one treatment arm; the control arm is not active. The duration of the intervention will be one year and data on job satisfaction will be collected from ward staff at the beginning and end of the year. There will be no follow up after the end of the intervention, but routine ward data on incidents, recruitment and retention and sickness is routinely collected and may be analysed at a future point if appropriate.
Intervention type	Other
Primary outcome measure(s)	Staff-level data: All staff who make up the ward establishment, from a list supplied by the ward manager, will be approached. For these staff data collection will be completed on baseline measures prior to randomisation, using: 1. Maslach Burnout Inventory: a 15-item measure to assess emotional exhaustion, depersonalisation and personal accomplishment 2. Job Content Questionnaire: a 34-item measure to assess job-related stress 3. Basic demographic data: including age, gender and number of hours worked. We will collect this using a proforma specifically designed for the study.
Key secondary outcome measure(s)	The following data will be collected from the ward and Trust databases: 1. Untoward incidents: 1.1. Total number of untoward clinical incidents on the ward including medication errors and near-misses in the 6 months prior to randomisation (March - August 2010) 2. Level of severity of clinical untoward incidents rated according to the IR1 form 5-point severity rating scale in the 6 months prior to randomisation 2. Staff costs (6 months prior to randomisation): 2.1. Agency and locum usage 2.2. Turnover of staff 2.3. Sickness rates among ward staff 2.4. Suspensions, disciplinaries
Completion date	31/03/2012

Eligibility

Participant type(s)	Patient
Age group	Adult
Sex	All
Target sample size at registration	100
Key inclusion criteria	Staff working on acute open mental health wards in the London Borough of Kensington and Chelsea: St Charles Hospital and the South Kensington and Chelsea Centre for Mental Health. Data will not be collected from patients at any point during the course of the study.
Key exclusion criteria	Does not meet inclusion criteria
Date of first enrolment	01/11/2010
Date of final enrolment	31/03/2012

Locations

Countries of recruitment

United Kingdom
England

Study participating centre

CNWL Trust Head of Arts Therapies

London
W9 2NW
United Kingdom

Results and Publications

Individual participant data (IPD) Intention to share	No
IPD sharing plan summary	Not provided at time of registration
IPD sharing plan

Study outputs

Output type	Details	Date created	Date added	Peer reviewed?	Patient-facing?
HRA research summary			28/06/2023	No	No
Participant information sheet	Participant information sheet	11/11/2025	11/11/2025	No	Yes

Editorial Notes

17/05/2017: No publications found in PubMed, verifying study status with principal investigator