Web-based mindfulness course for staff working in care homes in Wales for older people with dementia: Stepped-wedge trial.

Design and intervention: Before-and-after evaluation of web-based mindfulness training for staff caring for people living with dementia in care homes. Stepped-wedge cluster randomised design. Setting and participants: Random sample of 31 care homes for people living with dementia. Homes started mindfulness training at a random time over 35 weeks. From these homes 172 staff volunteered, 151 (88%) started training, and 111 (67%) completed questionnaires after 20 weeks. Methods: Questionnaires completed at baseline, 8 and 20 weeks included job stress (WSI) and health and well-being (SF-12). Results: There were significant reductions in job stress of 0.07 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.02, 0.13) at 8 weeks and 0.06 (95% CI: 0.01, 0.11) at 20 weeks; and improvements of 2.49 points (95% CI: 0.81, 4.17) in the SF-12 Mental Component Score at 8 weeks and 3.41 (95% CI: 1.88, 4.94) at 20 weeks. Conclusions: Web-based mindfulness training improved the psychological well-being of care home staff and reduced their stress with small to moderate effects in both short and medium term. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]