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.
University of Palermo, Italy - ORCID: 0009-0009-2928-512X
University of Palermo, Italy - ORCID: 0000-0001-6149-7784
University of Palermo, Italy - ORCID: 0000-0003-3788-1553
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
Licenza dei metadati
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)
Licenza d'uso
Licenza dei metadati
Editore
Firenze University Press
DOI
10.36253/979-12-215-1062-1
ISBN Print
979-12-215-1061-4
eISBN (pdf)
979-12-215-1062-1
eISBN (xml)
979-12-215-1063-8
Collana
Applied Statistics Series