Evaluating the Impact of Mindfulness Meditation on Family Medicine Residents' Well-being
Abstract
Professional competence in medicine requires a commitment to physician health and well-being, for sustainable practice and optimal patient care. Yet few doctors are taught wellness-enhancing techniques during their training. Mindfulness-based stress reduction has been extensively studied and can be beneficial in reducing stress and burnout while enhancing empathy in medical personnel. This study evaluated the impact of an adapted 8-week program of mindfulness meditation on the well-being of a convenience sample of family medicine residents. Significant improvements were seen in the active group in measurements of personal burnout (d = 1.02, p < 0.05) and mindfulness (d = 1.04, p < 0.05) at 8 weeks, with significant improvement in perceived stress (d = 1.002, p < 0.05) and mindfulness (d = 1.48, p < 0.01) persisting at 16 weeks. Post-mindfulness training evaluations rated the initial group training, meditation recordings and feasibility positively but identified fatigue, conflicting schedules and lack of group time as barriers to the practice of mindfulness-based stress reduction. Protected program time for stress management training may benefit residents' development of Professional competence and patient care outcomes.
Description
Keywords
Mental Health
Citation
Horton, J. (2016). Evaluating the Impact of Mindfulness Meditation on Family Medicine Residents' Well-being (Master's thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca. doi:10.11575/PRISM/25974