Reduce Stress and Improve Mood in Healthcare Workers with Mindfulness
By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.
“mindfulness training among healthcare providers is advocated for the improvement of quality of care as well as a means to mitigate work-related stress and burnout. . . Given the potential for mindfulness to promote health and enrich the practice of medicine, its increased utilization among patients, physicians, and the population at large is encouraged.” – Matias P. Raski
Stress is epidemic in the western workplace with almost two thirds of workers reporting high levels of stress at work. In high stress occupations, like healthcare, burnout is all too prevalent. Burnout is the fatigue, cynicism, emotional exhaustion, sleep disruption, and professional inefficacy that comes with work-related stress. It is estimated that over 45% of healthcare workers experience burnout. It not only affects the healthcare providers personally, but also the patients, as it produces a loss of empathy and compassion. Burnout, in fact, it is a threat to the entire healthcare system. Currently, over a third of healthcare workers report that they are looking for a new job. Hence, burnout contributes to the shortage of doctors and nurses.
Preventing burnout has to be a priority. Unfortunately, it is beyond the ability of the individual to change the environment to reduce stress and prevent burnout. So, it is important that methods be found to reduce the individual’s responses to stress; to make the individual more resilient when high levels of stress occur. Contemplative practices have been shown to reduce the psychological and physiological responses to stress and improve well-being. Indeed, mindfulness has been shown to be helpful in treating and preventing burnout, increasing resilience, and improving sleep.
In today’s Research News article “Effect of a Brief Mindfulness-Based Program on Stress in Health Care Professionals at a US Biomedical Research Hospital: A Randomized Clinical Trial.” (See summary below or view the full text of the study at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7448827/ ) Ameli and colleagues recruited healthy adult health care professionals and randomly assigned them to a life as usual, no treatment, condition or to receive a brief course in mindfulness during work hours. The Mindfulness-Based Self-Care program met once a week for 1.5 hours for 5 weeks. The program provided training and discussion of mindful breathing, body scan, mindful walking, mindful movements, mindful eating, and loving-kindness meditation. In addition, participants practiced daily at home. They were measured before and after training and 8 weeks later for perceived stress, anxiety, burnout, positive and negative emotions, mindfulness, and mindful self-care.
They found that in comparison to baseline and the life as usual control group at the end of training the mindfulness group had significantly lower levels of perceived stress and anxiety and significantly higher levels of mindfulness, positive emotions, and mindful self-care. At the 8-week follow-up, the mindfulness groups had maintained their significant improvements in perceived stress, anxiety and mindfulness, but not positive emotions, and mindful self-care.
The study did not have an active control condition. So, the results must be interpreted with caution. But they are very similar to the results of a large number of prior studies that mindfulness training reduces perceived stress and anxiety, and increases positive emotions. The fading of the benefits in positive emotions and mindful self-care over the 8-week follow-up period suggests that periodic refresher mindfulness training may be needed to maintain benefits.
The present study demonstrated that these benefits can be achieved with a brief mindfulness training conducted in the workplace of health care professionals. Since, stress, time constraints, and burnout are commonplace in this group, being able to conveniently deliver effective mindfulness training briefly at work maximizes the utility of mindfulness training for healthcare professionals and increases the likelihood that they will participate and complete training.
So, reduce stress and improve mood in healthcare workers with mindfulness.
“Levels of stress and burnout in the healthcare profession have been exacerbated in recent decades . . . mindfulness training. . . can have significant positive impacts on participants’ job satisfaction, their relationships with patients, co-workers and administration, and their focus and creativity at work.” – Jason Green
CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies
This and other Contemplative Studies posts are also available on Google+ https://plus.google.com/106784388191201299496/posts and on Twitter @MindfulResearch
Study Summary
Ameli, R., Sinaii, N., West, C. P., Luna, M. J., Panahi, S., Zoosman, M., Rusch, H. L., & Berger, A. (2020). Effect of a Brief Mindfulness-Based Program on Stress in Health Care Professionals at a US Biomedical Research Hospital: A Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA network open, 3(8), e2013424. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2020.13424
Key Points
Question
Is a brief mindfulness-based program effective and feasible in reducing stress among health care professionals during work hours?
Findings
In this randomized clinical trial including 78 participants randomized to a 5-session (7.5-hour total) mindfulness program or a life-as-usual control, participants in the mindfulness program reported reduced stress and anxiety compared with life-as-usual controls at the end of the intervention.
Meaning
This randomized clinical trial found that this brief mindfulness intervention was an effective way of reducing stress in a health care setting.
Question
Is a brief mindfulness-based program effective and feasible in reducing stress among health care professionals during work hours?
Findings
In this randomized clinical trial including 78 participants randomized to a 5-session (7.5-hour total) mindfulness program or a life-as-usual control, participants in the mindfulness program reported reduced stress and anxiety compared with life-as-usual controls at the end of the intervention.
Meaning
This randomized clinical trial found that this brief mindfulness intervention was an effective way of reducing stress in a health care setting.
Abstract
Importance
Stress among health care professionals is well documented. The use of mindfulness-based interventions to reduce stress has shown promising results; however, the time commitment of typical programs can be a barrier to successful implementation in health care settings.
Objective
To determine the efficacy and feasibility of a brief mindfulness-based program to reduce stress during work hours among health care professionals.
Design, Setting, and Participants
This intent-to-treat randomized clinical trial was conducted among full-time health care professionals at the Clinical Center at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, between September 2017 and May 2018. Participants were randomized to receive mindfulness-based self-care (MBSC) training or life-as-usual control. Data were analyzed from June 2018 to January 2020.
Interventions
The MBSC intervention included 5 weekly, 1.5-hour in-class mindfulness practice sessions.
Main Outcomes and Measures
Stress level was the primary outcome, assessed with the Perceived Stress Scale 10-Item version. Secondary outcomes included anxiety, burnout, positive and negative affect, mindfulness (trait and state), and self-care. Assessments were taken at baseline and at the end of the intervention (week 5) in the intervention and control groups, and at follow-up (week 13) in the intervention group to test for a maintenance effect. A postprogram evaluation was also obtained.
Results
Of 82 randomized participants, 78 who completed the study at week 5 were included in the modified intent-to-treat analysis (median [interquartile range] age, 32 [23-48] years; 65 [83%] women), including 43 participants in the MBSC group and 35 participants in the control group. At the end of the intervention, compared with the control group, the MBSC group had reduced levels of stress (mean [SD] score, 17.29 [5.84] vs 18.54 [6.30]; P = .02) and anxiety (mean [SD] score, 2.58 [1.52] vs 4.23 [1.73]; P < .001), and improved positive affect (mean [SD] score, 35.69 [7.12] vs 31.42 [7.27]; P < .001), state mindfulness (mean [SD] score, 3.74 [1.18] vs 2.78 [1.16]; P < .001), and mindful self-care (mean [SD] score, 7.29 [2.44] vs 5.54 [2.77]; P < .001). Burnout, negative affect, and trait mindfulness levels did not differ between groups. Changes within the MBSC group through follow-up included sustained reductions in stress (change, –6.14; 95% CI, –7.84 to –4.44; P < .001), anxiety (change, –1.46; 95% CI, –1.97 to –0.94; P < .001), trait mindfulness (change, 0.63; 95% CI, 0.36 to 0.90; P < .001), and state mindfulness (change, 1.89; 95% CI, 1.39 to 2.39; P < .001).
Conclusions and Relevance
This randomized clinical trial found that this brief mindfulness-based intervention was an effective and feasible means to reduce stress in health care professionals. Larger studies are needed to assess the effects on clinical care and patient outcomes.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7448827/Importance