Loving‐kindness and compassion meditations in the workplace: A meta‐analysis and future prospects

Abstract

Loving‐kindness and compassion meditation (LKCM) have been well applied among employees to improve their health and well‐being. Existing studies on LKCM have also provided supportive evidence of its benefits and effectiveness under organizational contexts. The current meta‐analytical study aimed to systematically summarise the effects of LKCM in the workplace and to outline directions for future research and practice. Among 327 empirical studies on LKCM published until March 2022, 21 trials focussed on employees and provided sufficient information, which were included in the following meta‐analysis. The results showed that LKCM benefited eight categories of workplace outcomes. Specifically, LKCM effectively decreased employees' burnout (g = 0.395, k = 10) and stress (g = 0.544, k = 10) and facilitated their mindfulness (g = 0.558, k = 14), self‐compassion (g = 0.646, k = 12), personal mental health (g = 0.308, k = 13), job attitudes (g = 0.283, k = 4), interpersonal relationships (g = 0.381, k = 12), and psychological resources (g = 0.406, k = 6). The results of moderation analyses further indicated that the participants' job type, gender, and the focus of LKCM might differentially fluctuate the magnitude of LKCM effects. To advance research and best practice, we finally pointed out several issues that deserve attention, such as long‐term effects, underlying mechanisms, potential moderators, and outcomes or influential factors at the organizational level.

Hatha yoga is more effective in improving kinesiophobia and subjective well-being when combined with self-compassion meditation in people with CLBP: a randomized control trial

“…Regarding perceived stress, there were no significant differences between the two groups at post-test, but a significant group x time interaction effect was observed at follow-up, indicating that the HYSCM group experienced a greater reduction in stress over time. It could be speculated that the intervention’s self-compassion meditation component helped cultivate coping strategies and resilience, leading to a delayed but significant reduction in perceived stress ( Allen and Leary, 2010 ; Wang et al, 2023 ). This aligns with the growing body of literature highlighting the stress-reducing effects of mindfulness and self-compassion practices ( Barnard and Curry, 2011 ; Keng et al, 2011 ; Neff and Germer, 2013 ; Khoury et al, 2015 ).…”