Systematic Review: Healthcare professionals work in highly emotive environments
and are considered to be at high risk of developing burnout due to the nature of their
roles. There has been increased interest in applying mindfulness-based interventions
for stress reduction in healthcare professionals. Previous reviews have tended to
include a heterogeneous mix of patients, healthcare students and healthcare
professionals. The inherent differences in these roles limits the conclusions that can
be drawn regarding the effectiveness of mindfulness-based interventions for
healthcare professionals. The current review aimed to address this gap in knowledge
by reviewing mindfulness-based interventions specifically for healthcare
professionals. Eight studies were included in the review. It was concluded that
despite some methodological weaknesses there was promising evidence of the
effectiveness of mindfulness-based interventions in reducing stress and improving
well-being particularly when baseline levels of stress were high. The evidence in
support of reducing burnout was less conclusive. Future studies employing larger
samples using active controls and longitudinal designs will provide valuable
information on the long-term efficacy of these interventions.
Empirical Research Study: Several studies have identified psychological
adjustment as one of the most important factors correlating with psychological
distress and quality of life in people with cancer. Identifying ways to promote
positive adjustment to cancer is an important goal in helping to alleviate distress and
improve quality of life for this client group. This can be facilitated by identifying
robust predictors of distress. Previous studies have identified a number of useful
predictors, such as coping styles and psychological adjustment styles. The current
study aimed to explore the predictive power of two newer constructs aligned to
mindfulness-based processes: self-compassion and cognitive fusion - in determining
adjustment to cancer. 114 adults with various cancer diagnoses completed the Mini
Mental Adjustment to Cancer Scale, Brief COPE, the Self-Compassion Scale,
Cognitive Fusion Questionnaire; and two outcome measures: the Hospital Anxiety
and Depression Scale and the Functional Analysis of Cancer Therapy – General.
Hierarchical multiple regression was used to explore relationships between predictor
variables: mental adjustment, coping style, self-compassion and cognitive fusion, and
outcome variables: distress and quality of life. Results showed that a known
predictor, emotional avoidance coping and the newer construct, cognitive fusion
were significant predictors of distress over and above other known predictors.
Emotional avoidance coping was the only significant predictor of quality of life over
and above known predictors and the newer constructs under examination. Self-compassion
did not account for any significant incremental variance in distress or
quality of life after controlling for other known predictors. The results of this study
indicate that interventions focused on reducing cognitive fusion and emotional
avoidance are warranted and potentially beneficial in reducing distress in this
population