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Decrease Burnout in Healthcare Workers During Covid-19 with Mindfulness

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Decrease Burnout in Healthcare Workers During Covid-19 with Mindfulness

 

By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“Healthcare professionals have been going above and beyond in order to safeguard everyone’s health and well-being during the coronavirus pandemic. Many have been stretched to capacity—and it’s not as if all the pre-COVID pressures have magically disappeared. Mindfulness can help healthcare professionals look after themselves and their colleagues during this time and beyond.” – Mindful

 

For healthcare professionals the Covid-19 pandemic has produced a number of difficult issues that may be helped by mindfulness practice. Being mindful or engaging in mindfulness practices can be helpful in coping with the physical and psychological manifestations of stress produced by long hours of working with very sick people with a highly infectious disease, the depression resulting from separation from family and loved ones, the post-traumatic stress disorder that can be produced by repeated exposure to suffering and death, and burnout that can result from the overwhelming quantity and seriousness of the symptoms. In addition mindfulness can help build empathy, compassion, patience, and flexibility that are so important for the treatment of the patients, resilience to withstand the stresses, and the ability to effectively cope with the strong emotions produced.

 

In today’s Research News article “Synchronous Mindfulness in Motion Online: Strong Results, Strong Attendance at a Critical Time for Health Care Professionals (HCPs) in the COVID Era.” (See summary below or view the full text of the study at: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.725810/full?utm_source=F-AAE&utm_medium=EMLF&utm_campaign=MRK_1709299_a0P58000000G0YfEAK_Psycho_20210824_arts_A ) Klatt and colleagues recruited healthcare professionals and delivered to them a mindfulness training program, Mindfulness in Motion (MIM), either in person or over the internet and before the Covid-19 Pandemic or after. They were measured before and after training for resilience, perceived stress, work engagement, and burnout, including subscales of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and personal accomplishment.

 

They found that after the mindfulness training there were significant reductions in burnout and perceived stress, and significant increases in resilience and work engagement regardless of whether it was delivered before or after the Covid-19 Pandemic. After Covid there were significantly higher levels of emotional exhaustion, but the mindfulness training produced significantly greater reductions in emotional exhaustion and perceived stress. There were no significant differences between the effects of the training delivered virtually over the internet or in person.

 

These results demonstrate that mindfulness training improves the psychological health of healthcare workers regardless of whether it’s delivered in person or over the internet or whether it was delivered before or after the onset of the Covid-19 Pandemic. Although there weren’t control comparison conditions present, prior controlled research has demonstrated that mindfulness training produces significant decreases in burnout and perceived stress and increases in resilience and work engagement. So, the present results likely are due to the mindfulness training program.

 

These are important findings as healthcare workers, particularly during the Covid-19 Pandemic are under severe stress which makes burnout likely. In addition, these workers have little available time for training, so being able to deliver the program over the internet makes it more readily available. Hence, mindfulness training appears to be able to buffer the healthcare professionals from burnout and improve their psychological well-being even during the Covid-19 Pandemic.

 

So, decrease burnout in healthcare workers during Covid-19 with mindfulness.

 

“There is no doubt that the stress of the COVID-19 pandemic is causing a high level of stress and distress, particularly among health care workers due to our unique role in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic. During a pandemic like this, our capacity to stay calm, present, and compassionate is more important than ever.” – Dzung Vo

 

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

 

Klatt M, Bawa R, Gabram O, Westrick A and Blake A (2021) Synchronous Mindfulness in Motion Online: Strong Results, Strong Attendance at a Critical Time for Health Care Professionals (HCPs) in the COVID Era. Front. Psychol. 12:725810. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.725810

 

Mindfulness in Motion (MIM) is an organizationally-sponsored mindfulness program for employees at a large academic health center that consistently produces significant reductions in burnout and perceived stress, alongside significant increases in work engagement and resilience. This study compared outcome measures of a synchronous virtual delivery of MIM, necessitated by COVID-19, to traditional in-person delivery of MIM. Outcome measures from the virtual COVID (AU20, WI21, SP21) MIM cohorts (n = 99) were compared with the in-person Pre-COVID (SP19, AU19, WI20) MIM cohorts (n = 124). Both Pre-COVID and COVID cohorts had similar attendance rates with an average attendance of 84 and 80%, respectively. Qualitative analysis of COVID cohorts reported community support during COVID as a substantial intervention benefit, which was important at a time when isolation dominated the healthcare professional experience. Total burnout was determined by scores on the subscales of the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI). There were no significant differences in depersonalization (p = 0.3876) and personal accomplishment (p = 0.1519) changes between Pre-COVID and COVID cohorts, however there was a significant difference in emotional exhaustion (p = 0.0315), with COVID cohorts improving more. In both Pre, and COVID cohorts, the percentage of people meeting burnout criteria from pre to post between groups were similar, yielding a non-significant difference (p = 0.2950). The Connor Davidson Resiliency Scale (CDRS) and Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES) also produced no significant differences between groups (p = 0.4259, p = 0.1984, respectively). The Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) though yielded significant differences in reduction between groups (p = 0.0405), again with COVID cohorts showing greater improvement. Results of the first synchronous, virtually delivered MIM cohorts reflect that participants achieved very similar results and that MIM created a community in a time when it was greatly needed due to pandemic healthcare professional stress.

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.725810/full?utm_source=F-AAE&utm_medium=EMLF&utm_campaign=MRK_1709299_a0P58000000G0YfEAK_Psycho_20210824_arts_A

 

Mindfulness is Associated with Positive Personality Characteristics and Greater Safety Behavior

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Mindfulness is Associated with Positive Personality Characteristics and Greater Safety Behavior

 

By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“By making mindfulness an accessible practice, and giving workers the tools they need to keep it up, safety professionals can significantly change lives – and not just in the workplace.” – American Association of Safety Professionals

 

Working in construction is dangerous. In the U.S. an average of 2 construction workers die each day. In fact, while only 6% of workers are in the construction industry, 20% of workplace fatalities are construction related. Injury rates in construction are 71% higher than injury rates across all industries on average. The top causes of construction related fatalities are falls, being struck-by an object, electrocution, and being caught between objects.

 

A loss of attention and concentration can lead to many construction-related injuries. Mindfulness on the other hand is related to improved attention, reduced numbers of falls, reduced mind wandering, and a reduction in impulsivity. So, mindfulness may be related to workplace safety. Trait mindfulness of workers, then is likely to be related to construction safety.

 

In today’s Research News article “Examining the Relationship between Mindfulness, Personality, and National Culture for Construction Safety.” (See summary below or view the full text of the study at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8125938/ ) Soloman and Esmaeili recruited construction workers and civil engineering students and had them complete measures of mindfulness, personality characteristics: including extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and openness, and national culture including: power distance, individualism vs. collectivism, uncertainty avoidance, and masculinity vs. femininity.

 

They found that the higher the levels of mindfulness the higher the levels of the personality traits of conscientiousness and agreeableness and the national cultural variable of uncertainty avoidance. They also found that the higher the levels of mindfulness the lower the levels of the personality trait of neuroticism.

 

These results are correlative, so causation can not be determined, But previous manipulative research has established the mindfulness causes increases in conscientiousness and agreeableness and decreases in neuroticism. This suggests that mindfulness is associated with and can improve positive personality traits. A new finding here is that mindfulness is also associated with uncertainty avoidance. From the perspective of the construction worker this would suggest that mindful workers pay more attention to their situation and don’t take risks but work to make sure they understand the situation they’re in. This should greatly improve safety. In addition, they are more conscientious, and this too would predict greater attention to safety.

 

The results are interesting and should be followed up with controlled manipulative studies. Nevertheless, the results suggest that mindfulness should improve worker safety and that certain personality types should be earmarked for attention to their safety. Neurotic, less conscientious, and low mindfulness workers may need to be identified and exposed to greater training including training in mindfulness.

 

So, mindfulness is associated with positive personality characteristics and greater safety behavior.

 

“there are great opportunities for low-dose mindfulness to positively impact workplace safety, potentially saving individuals from harm and organizations from costly accidents.” – Connell Nolan

 

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

 

Solomon, T., & Esmaeili, B. (2021). Examining the Relationship between Mindfulness, Personality, and National Culture for Construction Safety. International journal of environmental research and public health, 18(9), 4998. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18094998

 

Abstract

The construction industry still leads the world as one of the sectors with the most work-related injuries and worker fatalities. Considering that one of the barriers to improving construction safety is its stressful working environment, which increases risk of inattentiveness among construction workers, safety managers seek practices to measure and enhance worker focus and reduce stress, such as mindfulness. Considering the important role of mindfulness in curbing frequency and severity of incidents, researchers are interested in understanding the relationship between mindfulness and other common, more static human characteristics. As a result, this study examines the relationship between mindfulness and such variables as personality and national culture in the context of construction safety. Collecting data from 155 participants, this study used elastic net regression to examine the influence of independent (i.e., personality and national culture) variables on the dependent (i.e., mindfulness) variable. To validate the results of the regression, 10-fold cross-validation was conducted. The results reveal that certain personality traits (e.g., conscientiousness, neuroticism, and agreeableness) and national cultural dimensions (e.g., uncertainty avoidance, individualism, and collectivism) can be used as predictors of mindfulness for individuals. Since mindfulness has shown to increase safety and work performance, safety managers can utilize these variables to identify at-risk workers so that additional safety training can be provided to enhance work performance and improve safety outcomes. The results of this study will inform future work into translating personal and mindfulness characteristics into factors that predict specific elements of unsafe human behaviors.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8125938/

 

Improve Executives’ Attitudes Toward Work with a Mindfulness App

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Improve Executives’ Attitudes Toward Work with a Mindfulness App

 

By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“Mindful working means applying focus and awareness to everything you do from the moment you enter the office. Focus on the task at hand and recognize and release internal and external distractions as they arise. In this way, mindfulness helps increase effectiveness, decrease mistakes, and even enhance creativity.” –  Rasmus Hougaard

 

Work is very important for our health and well-being. We spend approximately 25% of our adult lives at work. Indeed, the work environment has even become an important part of our social lives, with friendships and leisure time activities often attached to the people we work with. But work-related stress is epidemic in the western workplace. Almost two thirds of workers reporting high levels of stress at work. This stress can result in impaired health and can result in burnout; producing fatigue, cynicism, and professional inefficacy. To help overcome unhappiness, stress, and burnout, mindfulness practices have been implemented in the workplace. These mindfulness practices have been shown to markedly reduce the physiological and psychological responses to stress.

 

The vast majority of the mindfulness training techniques, however, require a trained teacher. The participants must be available to attend multiple sessions at particular scheduled times that may or may not be compatible with busy employee schedules and at locations that may not be convenient. As an alternative, apps for smartphones have been developed. These have tremendous advantages in decreasing costs, making training schedules much more flexible, and eliminating the need to go repeatedly to specific locations. But the question arises as to the effectiveness of these apps in inducing mindfulness and reducing stress and improving psychological well-being in executives in real-world work settings.

 

In today’s Research News article “An App-Based Workplace Mindfulness Intervention, and Its Effects Over Time.” (See summary below or view the full text of the study at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8101632/ ) Lu and colleagues recruited working executives who had signed up for an 8-week mindfulness program on the Awakened Mind® platform. The App contained 8 weekly mindfulness meditation sessions. They were measured before, weekly during, and after training for mindfulness, emotional exhaustion, work engagement, and job satisfaction.

 

They found that the higher the levels of mindfulness, the higher the levels of work engagement, and job satisfaction and the lower the levels of emotional exhaustion. They also found that over time mindfulness grew stronger which in turn produced greater levels of work engagement, and job satisfaction and lower levels of emotional exhaustion. These effects grew throughout the 8 weeks of training but the rate of change was greatest early in training slowing later in training. Hence, the app increases mindfulness over time and this in turn improves workplace attitudes.

 

One problem encountered was that participation rates decreased over the 8 weeks of training such that by the end of training only 54% of the original participants were still using the app. This might suggest that experimental mortality could account for the results. But the fact that the effects were present early in the program when participation rates were high suggests that use of the app and not a confounding variable was responsible for the effects.

 

The results suggest that business executives benefit from using a mindfulness meditation app and further suggest that the app increases mindfulness which is responsible for the improved attitudes toward work. Mindfulness has been previously shown to reduce burnout at work. This suggests that this simple, convenient, and inexpensive mindfulness training should be recommended for business executives.

 

So, improve executives’ attitudes toward work with a mindfulness App.

 

“a brief two-week mindfulness training app can change a person’s biological response to stress.” – Emily K. Lindsay

 

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

 

Lu, Y., Remond, J., Bunting, M., Ilies, R., Tripathi, N., & Narayanan, J. (2021). An App-Based Workplace Mindfulness Intervention, and Its Effects Over Time. Frontiers in psychology, 12, 615137. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.615137

 

Abstract

We investigated the week-to-week effects of a mindfulness intervention on emotional exhaustion, work engagement, and job satisfaction in a field study involving 218 participants who participated and reported their weekly outcomes during the 8-week program. To examine how mindfulness impacted work outcomes, we used intraindividual modeling of the 8-week data. Mindfulness increased over time, and time also had indirect effects on emotional exhaustion, work engagement, and job satisfaction, through mindfulness. Supplementary growth curve analyses on the improvement of mindfulness over time showed a slight decrease in the positive effect of time on mindfulness.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8101632/

 

Improve Psychological Health at Work with Mindfulness

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Improve Psychological Health at Work with Mindfulness

 

By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“Mindful working means applying focus and awareness to everything you do from the moment you enter the office. Focus on the task at hand and recognize and release internal and external distractions as they arise. In this way, mindfulness helps increase effectiveness, decrease mistakes, and even enhance creativity.” – Rasmus Hougaard

 

Work is very important for our health and well-being. We spend approximately 25% of our adult lives at work. How we spend that time is immensely important for our psychological, social, and physical health. But, nearly 2/3 of employees worldwide are unhappy at work. This is partially due to work-related stress which is epidemic in the western workplace. Almost two thirds of workers reporting high levels of stress at work. This stress can result in impaired health and can result in burnout; producing fatigue, cynicism, and professional inefficacy.

 

To help overcome unhappiness, stress, and burnout, mindfulness practices have been implemented in the workplace. Indeed, mindfulness practices have been shown to markedly reduce the physiological and psychological responses to stress. As a result, it has become very trendy for business to incorporate meditation into the workday to help improve employee well-being, health, and productivity. These programs attempt to increase the employees’ mindfulness at work and thereby reduce stress. It is not known, however, how mindfulness and its benefits grow over training

 

In today’s Research News article “An App-Based Workplace Mindfulness Intervention, and Its Effects Over Time.” (See summary below or view the full text of the study at: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.615137/full?utm_source=F-AAE&utm_medium=EMLF&utm_campaign=MRK_1616048_69_Psycho_20210504_arts_A) Lu and colleagues recruited participants online to an online mindfulness training (Awakened Mind) once a week for 8 weeks. They were measured before and after each weekly session for mindfulness, emotional exhaustion, work engagement, and job satisfaction.

 

They report that over training mindfulness significantly increases and was associated with higher levels of work engagement and job satisfaction and lower levels of emotional exhaustion. Multilevel growth level analysis revealed that amount of time in training significantly increased mindfulness and it, in turn, increased work engagement and job satisfaction and decreased emotional exhaustion. They also report that the rate of growth in mindfulness significantly slowed over the 8 weeks of training.

 

Previous research has demonstrated that mindfulness training improves work engagement and job satisfaction and reduces emotional exhaustion. The contribution of the present study was to document the growth of mindfulness and its impact on work over 8 weeks of online training. Not surprisingly, the growth in mindfulness was relatively rapid at the beginning of training and slower toward the end of the 8 weeks of training. So, further training produces diminishing returns.

 

The mindfulness training was online and thus did not interrupt the participants’ work. This is important as employers are reluctant to take time away from work for mindfulness training. Having it occur online allows the participants to schedule it at their own convenience without disrupting work and also greatly increases its availability to large numbers of workers at low cost. Online training, then, is an almost ideal method of training workers in mindfulness and thereby improve their psychological state at work.

 

So, improve psychological health at work with mindfulness.

 

“To be mindful at work means to be consciously present in what you’re doing, while you’re doing it, as well as managing your mental and emotional state.” – Shamash Alidina

 

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

 

Lu Y, Remond J, Bunting M, Ilies R, Tripathi N and Narayanan J (2021) An App-Based Workplace Mindfulness Intervention, and Its Effects Over Time. Front. Psychol. 12:615137. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.615137

 

We investigated the week-to-week effects of a mindfulness intervention on emotional exhaustion, work engagement, and job satisfaction in a field study involving 218 participants who participated and reported their weekly outcomes during the 8-week program. To examine how mindfulness impacted work outcomes, we used intraindividual modeling of the 8-week data. Mindfulness increased over time, and time also had indirect effects on emotional exhaustion, work engagement, and job satisfaction, through mindfulness. Supplementary growth curve analyses on the improvement of mindfulness over time showed a slight decrease in the positive effect of time on mindfulness.

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.615137/full?utm_source=F-AAE&utm_medium=EMLF&utm_campaign=MRK_1616048_69_Psycho_20210504_arts_A

 

Reduce Insomnia and Rumination in Pregnant Women with Mindfulness

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Reduce Insomnia and Rumination in Pregnant Women with Mindfulness

 

By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“practicing mindfulness during the day, ideally for 20 minutes, . . The idea is to create a reflex to more easily bring forth a sense of relaxation. That way, it’s easier to evoke the relaxation response at night when you can’t sleep.” – Herbert Benson

 

Pregnancy is a time of intense physiological and psychological change. Anxiety, depression, and insomnia are quite common during pregnancy. More than 20 percent of pregnant women have an anxiety disorder, depressive symptoms, or both during pregnancy. Sleep disturbance including insomnia is also common affecting around 75% of pregnant women. The psychological health of pregnant women has consequences for fetal development, birthing, and consequently, child outcomes. Depression during pregnancy is associated with premature delivery and low birth weight. Insomnia has been linked to an increased risk of giving birth to a baby that’s too large or too small for its age, longer labor, and higher likelihood of a cesarean section.

 

Hence, it is clear that there is a need for methods to treat depression, anxiety, and insomnia during pregnancy. Since the fetus can be negatively impacted by drugs, it would be preferable to find a treatment that did not require drugs. Mindfulness training has been shown to improve anxiety, depression, and sleep normally and to relieve maternal anxiety and depression during pregnancy. In addition, mindfulness is known to reduce worry and rumination which can also lead to restlessness and sleep disturbance. So, it would make sense to study the relationship of mindfulness during the pregnancy to depression, rumination, and insomnia.

 

In today’s Research News article “Mindfulness and nocturnal rumination are independently associated with symptoms of insomnia and depression during pregnancy.” (See summary below or view the full text of the study at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7190270/ )  Kalmbach and colleagues recruited pregnant women in their third trimester and had them complete measures of mindfulness, rumination, insomnia, and depression. These data were subjected to multivariate linear regression analysis.

 

They found that women who were high in mindfulness had significantly lower levels of rumination, insomnia, and depression. Women who were high in rumination had significantly lower levels of mindfulness and higher levels of insomnia, and depression. Employing multivariate modelling they found that mindfulness and rumination separately and independently were related to insomnia and that mindfulness and rumination separately and independently were related to depression.

 

These results were correlational and as such causation cannot be determined. But previous research has demonstrated that mindfulness training reduces rumination, insomnia, and depression. So, the relationships observed here are likely due to causal relationships among the variables. It appears that mindfulness and rumination work in opposite directions. Mindfulness helps pregnant women sleep better and helps relieve depression while rumination does the opposite of interfering with sleep and increasing depression.

 

Interestingly, mindfulness and rumination affect sleep and depression independently but are negatively related such that mindfulness decreases rumination while rumination lowers mindfulness. Mindfulness is an asset to pregnant women while worry produces problems. This suggests that pregnant women should be trained in mindfulness and also trained to reduce worry. Both of these goals can be accomplished with Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT). Future research should investigate this possibility.

 

So, reduce insomnia and rumination in pregnant women with mindfulness.

 

“It seems important to develop mindfulness to improve sleep in pregnancy or reduce the impact of insomnia symptoms (common at pregnancy).” – M. Marques

 

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

 

Kalmbach, D. A., Roth, T., Cheng, P., Ong, J. C., Rosenbaum, E., & Drake, C. L. (2020). Mindfulness and nocturnal rumination are independently associated with symptoms of insomnia and depression during pregnancy. Sleep health, 6(2), 185–191. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sleh.2019.11.011

 

Abstract

Background:

Insomnia and depression are highly prevalent perinatal complications. Ruminating on stress is etiologically implicated in both disorders, and ruminating while trying to fall asleep has been linked to insomnia and depression during pregnancy. Incompatible with rumination is everyday mindfulness, i.e., living with intentional and nonjudgmental awareness of internal and external experiences in the present moment. Responding to stress mindfully may protect against stress-related perinatal complications such as insomnia and depression. The present study described the association between everyday mindfulness and nocturnal rumination, and examined whether these trait characteristics were independently related to perinatal insomnia and depression.

Methods:

Cross-sectional and secondary analysis of existing data from 65 pregnant women recruited from a multisite hospital in Metro Detroit, MI, USA. Subjects completed online surveys including the Insomnia Severity Index, Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale, Presleep Arousal Scale, and the revised Cognitive and Affective Mindfulness Scale.

Results:

Over half (53.8%) of women screened positive for clinical insomnia and 12.3% screened positive for major depression. Women high in mindfulness, relative to those low in mindfulness, reported less nocturnal rumination (Cohen’s d=1.16), insomnia symptoms (Cohen’s d=1.24), and depressive symptoms (Cohen’s d=1.35). Multivariate linear regression revealed that both mindfulness (β=−.24, p=.03) and rumination (β=.38, p<.01) were independently associated with insomnia. Similarly, a multivariate model showed that mindfulness (β=−.41, p<.001) and rumination (β=.35, p<.01) were independently associated with depression.

Conclusions:

Ruminating in bed at night is strongly associated with insomnia and depression during pregnancy, whereas mindfulness may potentially protect against these stress-related perinatal complications.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7190270/

 

A Supportive Environment is Necessary for Mindfulness to Lower Stress and Increase Well-Being at Work

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A Supportive Environment is Necessary for Mindfulness to Lower Stress and Increase Well-Being at Work

 

By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“Mindfulness is not about living life in slow motion. It’s about enhancing focus and awareness both in work and in life. It’s about stripping away distractions and staying on track with individual, as well as organizational, goals.” –  Rasmus Hougaard

 

Work is very important for our health and well-being. We spend approximately 25% of our adult lives at work. How we spend that time is immensely important for our psychological, social, and physical health. But, nearly 2/3 of employees worldwide are unhappy at work. This is partially due to work-related stress which is epidemic in the western workplace. Almost two thirds of workers reporting high levels of stress at work. This stress can result in impaired health and can result in burnout; producing fatigue, cynicism, and professional inefficacy.

 

To help overcome unhappiness, stress, and burnout, mindfulness practices have been implemented in the workplace. Indeed, mindfulness practices have been shown to markedly reduce the physiological and psychological responses to stress. As a result, it has become very trendy for business to incorporate meditation into the workday to help improve employee well-being, health, and productivity. These programs attempt to increase the employees’ mindfulness at work and thereby reduce stress. The research is accumulating. So, it makes sense to step back and summarize what has been learned.

 

In today’s Research News article “Mindfulness-based programmes to reduce stress and enhance well-being at work: a realist review” (See summary below or view the full text of the study at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7986896/ )  Micklitz and colleagues review and summarize the published research on the effectiveness of mindfulness training to improve the psychological well-being of employees. They identified 75 published research studies.

 

They report that the published research found that mindfulness-based programs in the workplace significantly reduce employee stress and improve well-being. They report that these benefits appear to occur as a result of mindfulness training producing increases in awareness, self-regulation, acceptance, compassion, permission for self-care, growth, and goal attainment. But, in order for this to work, the employees must feel comfortable sharing with peers their emotional difficulties, see that the program aligns with existing goals and practices, and be comfortable with a potential loss of productivity during training.

 

These findings suggest that mindfulness training at work can be effective in improving the employee’s ability to cope with stress and thereby improve their well-being. But a supportive environment must be present in order for the benefits to occur. These include managements acceptance of the program, employees seeing it as management caring for their well-being, and the programs alignment with the employee’s aspirations.

 

So, a supportive environment is necessary for mindfulness to lower stress and increase well-being at work.

 

“When we constantly flit from one task to another, the quality of our work can suffer. By practicing mindfulness — simply coming back to the present moment over and over again — we can train ourselves to become more focused.” – David Gelles

 

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

 

Micklitz, K., Wong, G., & Howick, J. (2021). Mindfulness-based programmes to reduce stress and enhance well-being at work: a realist review. BMJ open, 11(3), e043525. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2020-043525

Abstract

Objectives

To understand how and why workplace mindfulness-based programmes (MBPs) work or do not work.

Design

A realist review.

Eligibility criteria for selection

We considered any studies (experimental quasi-experimental, observational, qualitative and mixed-methods studies) of workplace MBPs as long as they provided data to explain our programme theories. All MBP formats and delivery modes were included.

Analysis

Consistent with realist review methodology, we systematically screened and analysed data to explain how and why workplace MBPs work or do not work. These explanations were consolidated into a programme theory augmented by theories from organisational literature, such as conservation of resources theory.

Results

Findings from 75 primary studies suggest that workplace MBPs enable participants (including healthcare professionals) to deal more skillfully with stressful events and improve their well-being. The mechanisms involved can be grouped around awareness/self-regulation, acceptance/compassion, feeling permitted to take care of self, sense of growth and promise of goal attainment. In order for professionals to invest in an MBP and benefit from it, it is important that they feel safe to engage with self-care at work and share emotional difficulties among peers. It is also important that employees are able to link the programme and its activities to existing goals and practices. Concerns of being non-productive, of not getting work done or of being exposed in front of colleagues can result in strategic use of brief mindfulness exercises, non-adherence or drop-out.

Conclusions

Simply offering an MBP to (healthcare) professionals in order to reduce stress and enhance well-being does not suffice. A supportive environment must exist in order for the programme’s benefits to be reaped.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7986896/

 

Reduce Employee Stress with Workplace Yoga

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Reduce Employee Stress with Workplace Yoga

 

By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“Practicing yoga at the workplace teaches employees to use relaxation techniques to reduce stress and risks of injury on the job. Yoga at the workplace is a convenient and practical outlet that improves work performance by relieving tension and job stress.” – Shira Taylor Gura

 

Work is very important for our health and well-being. We spend approximately 25% of our adult lives at work. How we spend that time is immensely important for our psychological, social, and physical health. But, nearly 2/3 of employees worldwide are unhappy at work. This is partially due to work-related stress which is epidemic in the western workplace. Almost two thirds of workers reporting high levels of stress at work. This stress can result in impaired health and can result in burnout; producing fatigue, cynicism, and professional inefficacy.

 

To help overcome unhappiness, stress, and burnout, mindfulness practices have been implemented in the workplace. Mindfulness has been demonstrated to be helpful in reducing the psychological and physiological responses to stress and for treating and preventing burnout in a number of work environments. Yoga practice has the extra benefits of not only being mindfulness training but also as an exercise. The research has been accumulation. So, it makes sense to step back and summarize what has been learned about the effects of yoga practice in the workplace on employee stress levels.

 

In today’s Research News article “Effectiveness of Workplace Yoga Interventions to Reduce Perceived Stress in Employees: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.” (See summary below or view the full text of the study at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7739364/ ) Valle and colleagues review, summarize, and perform a meta-analysis of the published controlled research studies of the effectiveness of yoga practice in the workplace for the stress levels and psychological health of employees.

 

They identified 6 controlled trials with a total of 487 participants. They report that these published trials found that yoga interventions in the workplace produced significant reductions in the stress levels of the employees. This replicates previous studies that practicing yoga reduces stress. It is important that the yoga classes were held at work. This makes participation much more convenient, making it more likely. As a result, yoga in the workplace may be a very effective means of reducing stress and thereby reducing employee burnout.

 

So, reduce employee stress with workplace yoga.

 

“Yoga postures, slow, deep, yogic breathing has also shown to elicit a relaxation response which could contribute to a reduction in stress in the workplace.” – Lisa Rappaport

 

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

 

Della Valle, E., Palermi, S., Aloe, I., Marcantonio, R., Spera, R., Montagnani, S., & Sirico, F. (2020). Effectiveness of Workplace Yoga Interventions to Reduce Perceived Stress in Employees: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Journal of functional morphology and kinesiology, 5(2), 33. https://doi.org/10.3390/jfmk5020033

 

Abstract

Work-related stress represents a relevant public health issue and solution strategies are mandatory. Yoga is a common approach to manage stress and its effectiveness has been extensively confirmed. Therefore, this study aims systematically to review the effectiveness of Yoga interventions carried out at workplace on work-related stress among employees and to assess their impact quantitatively. Springerlink, MEDLINE, PubMed, CINAHL, Web of Science, Scopus, Cochrane CENTRAL and PEDro databases were searched. Clinical trials comparing workplace Yoga interventions to control groups, and evaluating perceived stress as outcome measure, were assessed for eligibility. All forms and styles of Yoga were considered for the analysis. Out of 3392 initially identified, 6 studies were included in the meta-analysis; 266 participants practicing Yoga interventions at worksite were compared to 221 subjects in control group. Included studies showed “some concerns” about different domains of source of bias. Quantitative analysis showed an overall effect size of −0.67 [95% confidence interval (CI): −0.86, −0.49] in favor of Yoga intervention in reducing stress outcome measures. Hence, workplace Yoga interventions were more effective when compared to no treatment in work-related stress management. Further high-quality studies are needed to improve the validity of these results and to specify more characteristics of the Yoga intervention, such as style, volume, and frequency.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7739364/

 

Spirituality is Associated with Improved Psychological Well-Being in Patients with Persistent Mental Illness

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Spirituality is Associated with Improved Psychological Well-Being in Patients with Persistent Mental Illness

 

By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“No cure that fails to engage our spirit can make us well.” – Victor Frankl

 

Religion and spirituality have been promulgated as solutions to the challenges of life both in a transcendent sense and in a practical sense. What evidence is there that these claims are in fact true? The transcendent claims are untestable with the scientific method. But the practical claims are amenable to scientific analysis. There have been a number of studies of the influence of religiosity and spirituality on the physical and psychological well-being of practitioners mostly showing positive benefits, with spirituality encouraging personal growth and mental health. But there is still a need to investigate the relationships of spirituality with psychological well-being in patients with persistent mental illness.

 

In today’s Research News article “Spirituality and Employment in Recovery from Severe and Persistent Mental Illness and Psychological Well-Being.” (See summary below or view the full text of the study at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7827133/ ) Saiz and colleagues recruited adult patients with persistent mental illness who were in a program to prepare them for employment. The disorders included psychoses, schizophrenia, personality disorders, and mood disorders. The patients completed questionnaires measuring stage of recovery, hope, self-determination, psychological well-being, including self-acceptance, positive relationships, autonomy, environmental mastery, personal growth and purpose in life subscales, employment, work motivation including of satisfaction, integration into the work environment, social acceptance, social performance, job skills, self-esteem, perception of family support and job assertiveness subscales, spiritual experiences and spiritual well-being.

 

They report that the higher the levels of spirituality and work motivation, the higher the levels of psychological well-being and recovery. When spirituality and work motivation were used together as predictors of recovery only spirituality was significantly related. Similarly, when spirituality and work motivation were used together as predictors of psychological well-being only spirituality was significantly related. Hence, when work motivation is considered, only spirituality is significantly related to psychological well-being and recovery.

 

These findings for patients with persistent mental illness make sense as spirituality has been found in the past with other groups to be associated with psychological well-being and better mental health. The findings, though, are correlational and as such causation cannot be determined. Only that spirituality is associated with to psychological well-being and recovery can be ascertained. But this association is potentially important and suggests that the promotion of spirituality may be beneficial for patients with persistent mental illness, helping them recover better and be psychologically healthier. This remains for future research.

 

So, spirituality is associated with improved psychological well-being in patients with persistent mental illness.

 

“many people with mental illness desire the incorporation of spirituality in their recovery process/treatment.” – Jan-Stella Metheany

 

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

This and other Contemplative Studies posts are aalso available on Google+ https://plus.google.com/106784388191201299496/posts and on Twitter @MindfulResearch

 

Study Summary

 

Saiz, J., Galilea, M., Molina, A. J., Salazar, M., Barsotti, T. J., Chopra, D., & Mills, P. J. (2021). Spirituality and Employment in Recovery from Severe and Persistent Mental Illness and Psychological Well-Being. Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland), 9(1), 57. https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare9010057

 

Abstract

People diagnosed with severe and persistent mental illness (SPMI) face multiple vulnerabilities, including when seeking employment. Among SPMI patients, studies show that a stronger sense of spirituality can help to reduce psychotic symptoms, increase social integration, reduce the risk of suicide attempts and promote adherence to psychiatric treatment. This study examined how the variables spirituality and employment affect the recovery process and psychological well-being of people with SPMI who attend employment recovery services. The sample consisted of 64 women and men diagnosed with an SPMI. The assessment instruments included the Recovery Assessment Scale, Ryff Psychological Well-Being Scale, Work Motivation Questionnaire, Daily Spiritual Experience Scale, and Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy—Spiritual Well-Being (FACIT-Sp12). Hierarchical regression analyses were performed to compare three different models for each dependent variable (recovery and psychological well-being). The findings showed that job skills predicted psychological well-being and recovery. When spiritual variables were included in the model, job skills dropped out and the dimension meaning/peace of the FACIT-Sp12 emerged as the only significant predictor variable. Integrating spirituality into recovery programs for people with SPMI may be a helpful complement to facilitate the recovery process and improve psychological well-being.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7827133/

 

Workplace Well-Being is Associated with Spirituality

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Workplace Well-Being is Associated with Spirituality

 

By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“Burnout, compassion fatigue, career exhaustion—you can rewire your brain to see these afflictions as opportunities for embarking on a new path. You don’t have to stay on a dead-end street.”- Pamela Milam

 

Work is very important for our health and well-being. We spend approximately 25% of our adult lives at work. How we spend that time is immensely important for our psychological and physical health. Indeed, the work environment has even become an important part of our social lives, with friendships and leisure time activities often attached to the people we work with. But, more than half of employees in the U.S. and nearly 2/3 worldwide are unhappy at work. This is partially due to work-related stress which is epidemic in the western workplace. Almost two thirds of workers reporting high levels of stress at work. This stress can result in impaired health and can result in burnout; producing fatigue, cynicism, and professional inefficacy.

 

Religion and spirituality have been promulgated as solutions to the challenges of life both in a transcendent sense and in a practical sense. There have been a number of studies of the influence of religiosity and spirituality on the physical and psychological well-being of practitioners mostly showing positive benefits, with spirituality encouraging personal growth and mental health. Perhaps, then, spirituality can be helpful in relieving stress and lowering burnout in the workplace.

 

In today’s Research News article “Employee burnout and positive dimensions of well-being: A latent workplace spirituality profile analysis.” (See summary below or view the full text of the study at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7671502/ ) Del Corso and colleagues performed 2 studies of the association of workplace spirituality with the employee well-being. In the first study they recruited employees of 3 different Italian companies and had them complete measures of positive supervisor behavior, burnout, and workplace spirituality.

 

They found that the higher the levels of workplace spirituality the lower the levels of burnout. They also found that positive supervisor behavior was negatively associated with burnout indirectly by being positively associated with workplace spirituality which was in turn negatively associated with burnout. So, spirituality was higher in employees whose supervisors expressed positive supervisory behavior and burnout was lower in employees who were high in spirituality.

 

In the second study they again recruited employees of Italian companies and had them complete measures of workplace spirituality, work engagement, positive emotions, self-efficacy, and resilience. They found that employees who were high in workplace spirituality were significantly higher in positive emotions, resilience, self-efficacy, vigor, dedication, absorption, and work engagement.

 

These studies were correlational and as such caution must be exercised in reaching causal conclusions. With this in mind, the results suggest that workplace spirituality is highly associated with employee well-being and lower levels of burnout. Workplace spirituality is composed of 4 factors; engaging work, sense of community, spiritual connection, and mystical experiences. Two of these components involve a satisfying work environment while two involve dimensions of spirituality. The results suggested that all of these components were significantly involved in the association with well-being.

 

Spirituality has well documented associations with overall well-being of the individuals. This study demonstrates that this extends into the workplace. These results suggest, not surprisingly, that having a satisfying work environment contributes to the employees’ well-being but more surprisingly being spiritual also contributes.

 

So, workplace well-being is associated with spirituality.

 

“When people operate with high-stress levels without rest, they reduce productivity and risk their health. . . practices like meditation make your mind strong balanced and flexible and able to focus at will. “ – Spiritual Earth

 

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

 

Dal Corso, L., De Carlo, A., Carluccio, F., Colledani, D., & Falco, A. (2020). Employee burnout and positive dimensions of well-being: A latent workplace spirituality profile analysis. PloS one, 15(11), e0242267. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0242267

 

Abstract

In recent years, a new and promising construct has attracted the attention of organizational research: Workplace spirituality. To investigate the role of workplace spirituality in organizational contexts, two studies were carried out. Study 1 explored the mediation role of workplace spirituality in the relationship between positive supervisor behaviors and employee burnout. Results showed that workplace spirituality strongly contributes to reduce burnout and mediates the effect of supervisor integrity in reducing this threat. Study 2 considered the relationships of workplace spirituality with positive affectivity, resilience, self-efficacy, and work engagement. In particular, workplace spirituality profiles were investigated through latent profile analysis (LPA). Findings showed that workplace spirituality is related to higher positive affectivity, resilience, self-efficacy, and work engagement. In contrast, a workplace spirituality profile characterized by a low-intensity spiritual experience is associated with higher negative feelings. The practical implications of these findings are discussed.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7671502/

 

Breathing-Focused Yoga Practices Produce Greater Benefits for College Students than Meditative-Focused Practices

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Breathing-Focused Yoga Practices Produce Greater Benefits for College Students than Meditative-Focused Practices

 

By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“Want to manage your anger so you don’t feel you’re always on the verge of blowing up? Want to feel less stressed and juggle all the things going on in your life? Need to focus better in class or while you do your homework? Yoga poses can help. But meditation and breathing really round out those benefits.” – Mary L. Gavin

 

Yoga training has been shown to improve health and well-being. It has also been found to be effective for a large array of medical and psychiatric conditions, either stand-alone or in combination with more traditional therapies. There are a wide variety of different yoga training techniques. Many varieties employ breath-focused practices while many others employ meditative-focused practices. Although the benefits of yoga practices in general are well studied there is little scientific research comparing breathing-focused versus meditative-focused yoga.

 

In today’s Research News article “Comparing the Psychological Effects of Meditation- and Breathing-Focused Yoga Practice in Undergraduate Students.” (See summary below or view the full text of the study at: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.560152/full?utm_source=F-AAE&utm_medium=EMLF&utm_campaign=MRK_1490157_69_Psycho_20201124_arts_A ) Qi and colleagues recruited college students with no yoga experience and randomly assigned them to a once a week for 80 minutes 12-week program of either breath-focused yoga or meditation-focused yoga. During each Hatha yoga class the students received either 10 minutes of meditation practice or breathing practice. They were measured before and after the program for work intention, mindfulness, and perceived stress.

 

They found that both before and after yoga training the higher the participants’ levels of mindfulness the lower their levels of perceived stress. They further found that in comparison to baseline and the other yoga group, the breath-focused yoga group had significantly higher levels of perceived stress and mindfulness while the meditation-focused yoga group had significantly lower work intention.

 

These results are interesting and document the previously reported linkage between mindfulness and lower stress levels. But they go further in demonstrating that breath-focus is an important component of yoga practice for the improvement of mindfulness and the lowering of perceived stress. This suggests that breathing practice should be emphasized in yoga instruction. These results also suggest that yoga practice may be beneficial for college students who are routinely found to have high stress levels, reducing their stress and thereby allowing them to perform their best in their studies.

 

So, breathing-focused yoga practices produce greater benefits for college students than meditative-focused practices.

 

“Mindful yoga (or the integration of yoga and mindfulness meditation techniques) provides a healthy and safe environment for individuals to practice “being with” uncomfortable emotional and physical experiences, and to eventually reunite with and fully inhabit their bodies.” – Melissa Mercedes

 

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

 

Qi X, Tong J, Chen S, He Z and Zhu X (2020) Comparing the Psychological Effects of Meditation- and Breathing-Focused Yoga Practice in Undergraduate Students. Front. Psychol. 11:560152. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.560152

 

ABSTRACT

Objectives: The present study aimed to compare the psychological effects of meditation- and breathing-focused yoga practice in undergraduate students.

Methods: A 12-weeks yoga intervention was conducted among a group of undergraduate students enrolled in four yoga classes at an academically prestigious university in Beijing, China. Four classes were randomized to meditation-focused yoga or breathing-focused yoga. A total of 86 participants finished surveys before and after the 12-weeks intervention, measuring work intention, mindfulness, and perceived stress. The repeated-measure multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) followed by univariate analyses were conducted to examine the differences in work intention, mindfulness, and stress between the two yoga intervention groups over the semester, after controlling for age and gender.

Results: The repeated-measure MANCOVA revealed significant group differences with a median effect size [Wilks’ lambda, Λ = 0.90, F(3, 80) = 3.10, p = 0.031, η2 = 0.104]. Subsequent univariate analyses showed that students in the breathing-focused yoga group had significant higher work intentions [F(1, 82) = 5.22; p = 0.025; η2p = 0.060] and mindfulness [F(1, 82) = 6.33; p = 0.014; η2p = 0.072] but marginally lower stress [F(1, 82) = 4.20; p = 0.044; η2p = 0.049] than students in the meditation-focused yoga group.

Conclusion: Yoga practice with a focus on breathing is more effective than that with a focus on meditation for undergraduates to retain energy for work, keep attention and awareness, and reduce stress.

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.560152/full?utm_source=F-AAE&utm_medium=EMLF&utm_campaign=MRK_1490157_69_Psycho_20201124_arts_A