Effectiveness for Employee Burnout & Turnover Reduction

Improves Mood States and Reduces Burnout

Abstract:
Recreational Music-Making: A Cost-Effective Group Interdisciplinary Strategy for Reducing Burnout and Improving Mood States in Long-Term Care Workers (2003)
Bittman MD, Karl T. Bruhn, Christine Stevens, MSW, MT-BC, James Westengard, Paul O. Umbach, MA

Advances in Mind-Body Medicine Fall/Winter 2003, Vol. 19 No. 3/4

Hypothesis: a cost-effective Yamaha Clavinova-based HealthRHYTHMS® Recreational Music-Making protocol reduces burnout and improves mood states in long-term care workers.

What we studied: At Westbury United Methodist Retirement Community we studied 112 employees’ mood states (POMS-Profile of Mood States & MBI-Maslach Burnout Inventory) including: tension/anxiety (T/A), depression/dejection (D/D), anger/hostility (A/H), vigor/activity (V/A), fatigue/inertia (F/I) and confusion/bewilderment (C/B). Total Mood Disturbance (TMD) is the sum of the above mood parameters weighing V/A negatively.

What we found: A 46% improvement in total mood disturbance and 62% improvement 6 weeks post intervention. Economic Impact projections – a typical 100 bed long-term care facility would expect to experience an 18.3% overall reduction in employee turnover. Retention of 11 of 60 positions predicted to be lost each year would result in an average cost savings of $89,100 per year. Total annual savings to the industry based on an 18.3% decrease in turnover at every long-term care facility is therefore projected at $1.46 billion.