Mindfulness-based medical practice: a mixed-methods investigation of an adapted mindfulness-based stress reduction program for health care professionals

The necessity of providing health care professionals with tangible tools to manage stress and safeguard their own well-being has become increasingly apparent. Rates of burnout in the helping professions are rising; the consequences of clinician distress for patient care have been highlighted in recent literature. Past research has examined the potential for Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) to act as an adjunctive intervention for various clinical problems, including but not limited to chronic pain, for over 25 years. Presently, the applications of this program are burgeoning with health care professionals, for whom the intervention holds the promise of promoting both personal and clinical benefits. Past research has examined outcomes of MBSR in health care professionals such as burnout, empathy, perceived stress, as well as medical and psychological symptoms such as depression or anxiety. The current program of research sought to expand on existing research by examining positive psychological outcomes such as well-being, as well as potential mechanisms of change such as mindful attention, and self-compassion. Quantitative and qualitative methods were employed to provide a broad portrait of how change is experienced by health care professionals engaged in the program. This dissertation comprises three manuscripts that collectively contribute to the literature. The first manuscript provides a focused literature review, summarizing the empirical literature on MBSR for health care professionals specifically. The second manuscript utilized self-report measures to explore benefits of engaging in Mindfulness-Based Medical Practice (MBMP), an adapted version of MBSR for health care professionals which includes training in mindful communication. The program was completed by a sample of 51 physicians, psychologists, social workers, nurses, and other health care professionals in two cohorts during the spring of 2008 and 2009. Findings provide initial evidence of the effectiveness of MBMP as demonstrated by significant decreases in perceived stress, and increases in mindful attention and awareness and self-compassion. Bootstrapped hierarchical regression analyses failed to reveal a moderating effect of either mindfulness or self-compassion on the negative relationship between perceived stress and well-being. The third manuscript presents a study which investigated participants' experiences of the 8-week course through focus group interviews (n = 27). A grounded theory analysis yielded a model highlighting unique change processes for practicing health care professionals in relation to enhanced awareness of perfectionism, self-criticism, and orientation to others. Participants described achieving personal outcomes such as changes in self-care attitudes and practices, as well as implications for clinical encounters with patients. This study provides one of the first in-depth qualitative investigations of practicing health care professionals' experiences of an MBSR program. Taken together, the three manuscripts provide a solid rationale for future research on the potential for MBSR to enrich the lives of health care professionals and the patients they serve.

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