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Cognitive behavioral therapy for nurse burnout: A meta-analysis of dimension-specific outcomes

  • Ivan Giuseppe Cammarata
  • Micaela Arcaio
  • Stefano Boca

Burnout is a pervasive issue among nurses, with significant consequences for both caregivers and healthcare systems. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) has emerged as a promising intervention to address burnout symptoms, but evidence on its effectiveness across different dimensions of burnout remains limited. This meta-analysis aims to assess the effectiveness of CBT-based interventions in reducing burnout among nurses and to examine whether effects vary across burnout subscales. Following PRISMA guidelines, we systematically searched four databases up to April 2025 for randomized controlled trials and quasi-experimental studies assessing CBT interventions in nurses. Six studies were included, comprising various CBT delivery formats and targeting different burnout dimensions (emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and personal accomplishment). Standardized mean change scores were calculated for pre- and post-intervention comparisons between treatment and control groups. A mixed-effects meta-regression model was used to explore subscale-specific effects. The overall model showed no residual heterogeneity and explained 100% of between-study variance. The test for moderators was significant (QM(6) = 41.29, p < .0001), indicating that burnout subscales significantly influenced the measure of intervention effects. Specifically, CBT interventions showed the strongest positive effects on depersonalization (estimate = 0.57, p = .054) and global burnout (estimate = 0.39, p = .056), with statistically significant reductions in depersonalization and improvements in global burnout nearing conventional significance thresholds. In contrast, personal accomplishment showed a large and significant negative effect (estimate = -1.29, p < .0001), suggesting inconsistent impact across dimensions. CBT-based interventions appear effective in reducing specific burnout dimensions in nurses, particularly depersonalization, while effects on personal accomplishment remain unclear or negative. These findings support a targeted, subscale-sensitive approach to implementing CBT programs in healthcare settings to optimize outcomes and ensure intervention specificity.

  • Keywords:
  • Meta-Analysis,
  • Burnout,
  • Nurses,
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Ivan Giuseppe Cammarata

University of Palermo, Italy - ORCID: 0009-0009-2928-512X

Micaela Arcaio

University of Palermo, Italy - ORCID: 0000-0001-6149-7784

Stefano Boca

University of Palermo, Italy - ORCID: 0000-0003-3788-1553

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Informazioni sul capitolo

Titolo del capitolo

Cognitive behavioral therapy for nurse burnout: A meta-analysis of dimension-specific outcomes

Autori

Ivan Giuseppe Cammarata, Micaela Arcaio, Stefano Boca

Lingua

Inglese

DOI

10.36253/979-12-215-1062-1.20

Opera sottoposta a peer review

Anno di pubblicazione

2026

Copyright

© 2026 Author(s)

Licenza d'uso

CC BY 4.0

Licenza dei metadati

CC0 1.0

Informazioni bibliografiche

Titolo del libro

Data, Statistics and AI for Well-Being of People and Organisations

Curatori

Luigi Fabbris, Alberto Franci, Pietro Renzi

Opera sottoposta a peer review

Numero di pagine

420

Anno di pubblicazione

2026

Copyright

© 2026 Author(s)

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CC BY 4.0

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CC0 1.0

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Firenze University Press

DOI

10.36253/979-12-215-1062-1

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979-12-215-1061-4

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979-12-215-1062-1

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Applied Statistics Series

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