Abstract
ObjectivesMany resident physicians suffer from mental distress. This endangers the individual physician as well as the quality of patient care. This study tested the feasibility of a novel 8-week mindfulness program tailored to improve resident physicians’ personal and work-related well-being.MethodsParticipants were nine resident physicians from a major hospital in southern Germany. Feasibility was assessed in seven domains (demand, acceptability, implementation, practicality, adaptation, integration, and preliminary effectiveness), using self-reports, attrition, attendance, and daily home practice. Using a pre-post within-subjects design, changes were assessed in hair cortisol as a biomarker of stress as well as in self-reported personal and work-related well-being.ResultsThe program is feasible in all domains. Participants positively rated the program regarding satisfaction, helpfulness, usage, and personal and professional benefit. All participants indicated to recommend the program. There was no study attrition, high attendance, and an average daily home practice of 13.5 min. A medium reduction was observed with hair cortisol secretion (d = 0.64). In terms of personal well-being, medium-to-large improvements were observed with perceived stress (d = 0.58), mental health (d = 0.77), self-attributed mindfulness (d = 0.92), and self-compassion (d = 1.21). In terms of work-related well-being, small-to-medium improvements were observed with self-reported job strain (d = 0.58), effort-reward imbalance (d = 0.36), work-related burnout (d = 0.32), thriving at work (d = 0.24), and physician empathy (d = 0.21).ConclusionsThis study provides evidence that a tailored mindfulness program is feasible and may be effective in reducing hair cortisol secretion and improving resident physicians’ personal and work-related well-being. These promising findings warrant further investigation within a randomized controlled trial.
Highlights
Discussing ways to deal with barriers to mindful practice; exploring mindful anchors in daily routine; introducing mindfulness to experience slower passage of time and to mitigate the feeling of time pressure
Thoughts, and physical sensations; raise awareness of the process of constructing reality through one’s experiences; connecting with the inner observer and exploring dis-identification to learn to non-identify with thoughts and feelings and to reduce reactivity towards them
Demand The interviews during the needs assessment confirmed that there is a great deal of dissatisfaction and disillusion with medical practice, a strong need to improve resident physicians’ well-being and a longing for ways of dealing with internal and external stressors
Summary
Many resident physicians suffer from mental distress. This endangers the individual physician as well as the quality of patient care. This study tested the feasibility of a novel 8-week mindfulness program tailored to improve resident physicians’ personal and work-related well-being. Using a pre-post within-subjects design, changes were assessed in hair cortisol as a biomarker of stress as well as in self-reported personal and work-related well-being. In terms of personal well-being, medium-to-large improvements were observed with perceived stress (d = 0.58), mental health (d = 0.77), self-attributed mindfulness (d = 0.92), and self-compassion (d = 1.21). Conclusions This study provides evidence that a tailored mindfulness program is feasible and may be effective in reducing hair cortisol secretion and improving resident physicians’ personal and work-related well-being. These promising findings warrant further investigation within a randomized controlled trial
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