Mindfulness therapies on health professionals

Abstract

Health professionals are exposed to situations of emotional vulnerability by being in continuous contact with patients and their suffering, which can cause conditions such as compassion fatigue. To address this issue, therapies such as mindfulness are being used to reduce stress and promote self‐compassion. The objective of this research was to carry out a systematic review and meta‐analysis to analyse the types of mindfulness interventions that are being used for healthcare professionals and their effectiveness in reducing stress and improving self‐compassion and mindfulness. Following the PRISMA guideline, a systematic review of original studies was carried out in the following databases: Medline, Scopus, Cinhal, PsycINFO, Lilacs, and Science Direct, without a limited time frame. Controlled experimental mindfulness interventions on health professionals were selected, in which the following outcome variables were measured: stress, self‐compassion, and mindfulness. A meta‐analysis was performed with a random effects model. In cases of very high heterogeneity, the data were analysed by subgroup. Mindfulness‐Based Stress Reduction Therapy (MBSR) was the most often used in the studies. There is diversity in the implementation of MBSR, and a common finding is a reduction of stress and increased mindfulness in health professionals. However, studies that analyse self‐compassion are scarce. The effect of these therapies varies depending on how long the individual has been practising meditation. In conclusion, more studies are needed to describe the clinical usefulness of these programmes, to jointly analyse these three variables (stress, self‐compassion, and mindfulness), and to measure compassion fatigue as an outcome variable.

Occupational Factors Associated with Health-Related Quality of Life in Nursing Professionals: A Multi-Centre Study

“…Health system managers should therefore implement health promotion and prevention interventions among nurses to improve their HRQoL and reduce their risk of absenteeism or resignation. In this sense, we believe that interventions centred on the cultivation of or training in compassion might be a core element in such interventions [51].…”

Quality of Life in Nursing Professionals: Burnout, Fatigue, and Compassion Satisfaction

“…Healthcare professionals, especially nurses, witness the pain and suffering of their patients in the daily practice of their work [4,5]. Providing care in these cases is very demanding for the healthcare community in physical, emotional, and spiritual terms [6]. Their work requires certain qualities, such as empathy, compassion, and closeness to the individuals and families they care for [7].…”

Yoga and Mindfulness as a Tool for Influencing Affectivity, Anxiety, Mental Health, and Stress among Healthcare Workers: Results of a Single-Arm Clinical Trial

“…Furthermore, both such time-honored practices can be regarded as synergic in terms of their effects on body and mind states, with particular reference to posture, breath, autonomous nervous system, and the major neural networks involved in the regulation of cognition and emotion [19][20][21].Further aspects of relevance in our training are the use of a short duration program (4 weeks), which appears not only less costly and with higher odds of attendance among the participants but also easier to be implemented in organizational contexts. In the mostly used MBIs, such as Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), training in formal mindfulness practices is provided, including body scan, sitting meditation, and yoga, with a standard duration of 8 weeks [22] as shown by a recent systematic review [23].There is some evidence that demonstrates the efficacy of a brief 4-week mindfulness intervention for nurses and nurse aides, with significant improvements in burnout symptoms, relaxation, and life satisfaction [24]. Moreover, another study conducted on veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder demonstrates a beneficial physiological impact on cortisol awakening response with a minimum of 4 weeks of practice [25].The main purpose of this study, YoMin (Yoga and Mindfulness), was to conduct a single-arm clinical trial (CT) to assess the effectiveness of an intervention based on two types of techniques (MBSR and yoga) in improving mental well-being in healthcare workers (HCWs) of 2 hospitals in Rome.The hypothesis to be tested was that combined yoga and mindful interventions could be associated with an improvement in the scores concerning quality of life, work-related stress, positive and negative affect, and state and trait anxiety.…”

“…Further aspects of relevance in our training are the use of a short duration program (4 weeks), which appears not only less costly and with higher odds of attendance among the participants but also easier to be implemented in organizational contexts. In the mostly used MBIs, such as Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), training in formal mindfulness practices is provided, including body scan, sitting meditation, and yoga, with a standard duration of 8 weeks [22] as shown by a recent systematic review [23].…”