Feasibility, Acceptability, and Preliminary Effectiveness of a Pilot Online Mindful Self-compassion Program for Medical Students

Feasibility, Acceptability, and Preliminary Effectiveness of a Pilot Online Mindful Self-compassion Program for Medical Students
Author: Rachel S. Wasson
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2022
Genre: Burn out (Psychology)
ISBN:

Medical students experience elevated stress, burnout, depression, suicidal ideation, and compassion fatigue. Previous research has demonstrated that a variety of mindfulness and self-compassion interventions can improve stress, burnout, and self-compassion in this population. However, these programs are not consistently implemented and, given the costly nature of program implementation, it is imperative to improve the effectiveness of interventions on psychological and behavioral health outcomes through systematic development. The specific aims were to: 1) assess feasibility and acceptability of the Self-compassion, Yoga, and Mindfulness for Burnout: Integrating Online Sessions and Interpersonal Support (SYMBIOSIS) program, and 2) evaluate preliminary psychological and behavioral health outcomes. A mixed-methods approach was utilized to investigate feasibility, acceptability, and effects of the program using validated measures and open-ended questions. Participants were 20 first- and second-year medical students at one U.S. mid-western medical college who participated between October 2020 to December 2020. Participants were enrolled in one of two groups for the virtual 8-week program via Webex. Participants completed surveys at pre, post, and four weeks after the intervention. They also completed weekly home practice assessments. Of the 19 participants who completed the program (95% retention rate), all participants attended 6 or more sessions. Repeated measures ANOVAs revealed that participants had significant improvements in burnout, self-compassion, perceived stress, and health promoting behaviors across time. These results were supported by qualitative themes of increased social support, wellness skills, and overall positive experiences. Findings suggest that the SYMBIOSIS program was feasible and acceptable to medical students, and improved psychological and behavioral health outcomes.

How Feasible and Effective is a Brief Online Self-Compassion Program for Students in the Healthcare Professions?

How Feasible and Effective is a Brief Online Self-Compassion Program for Students in the Healthcare Professions?
Author: Midhula Madhu Kalpak
Publisher:
Total Pages:
Release: 2021
Genre:
ISBN:

Health care professionals are at higher risk for work-related stress, burnout and compassion fatigue than other professionals. One coping strategy that has attracted considerable attention is the practice of self-compassion. Self-compassion training is associated with psychological benefits such as decreased self-criticism and rumination and increased connectedness, mindfulness, and life satisfaction. (Smeets et al., 2014). While there is preliminary evidence that online self-compassion training is as effective as in-person training (Finlay-Jones et al., 2016), length and duration of online programs may affect adherence. Accordingly, this study assessed the feasibility of a short, 4-week online self-compassion program tailored for students in health care professions. Since this was an exploratory study, there was no control group. A convenience sample of 31 students who were registered in health care profession programs at the University of Ottawa and other Canadian universities were recruited. Key feasibility indicators included ease of recruitment, retention, completion of outcome measures, and acceptability of the program (adherence, satisfaction, ease of use). The study also obtained preliminary data on the effects of the intervention on levels of self-compassion, mindfulness, depression, anxiety and stress. Recruitment was easier than expected, with 31 participants enrolled in the study within a 2-month period. Of these, 21 started the self-compassion training. Adherence to the daily self-compassion meditations was poor, with only four participants meditating at least 50% of the expected number of days. Participants rated the self-compassion meditations as easy to follow and satisfaction ratings were acceptable for three of the four meditations. However, only two of the meditations were perceived to be relevant to healthcare professions. Intent-to-treat analyses revealed that the mindfulness facet Nonjudge and levels of stress improved from pre-to- post study. Separate analyses on program starters revealed that the mindfulness facets Describe, Nonjudge, and Act with Awareness, and levels of stress and anxiety improved. However, it is unlikely that these changes were attributed to the meditation practice given the poor rate of adherence. Overall, results suggest that this brief online self-compassion meditation training may not be feasible for healthcare trainees at this time without certain modifications to the program.

Sitting Together

Sitting Together
Author: Susan M. Pollak
Publisher: Guilford Publications
Total Pages: 257
Release: 2016-07-29
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 1462527736

This practical guide helps therapists from virtually any specialty or theoretical orientation choose and adapt mindfulness practices most likely to be effective with particular patients, while avoiding those that are contraindicated. The authors provide a wide range of meditations that build the core skills of focused attention, mindfulness, and compassionate acceptance. Vivid clinical examples show how to weave the practices into therapy, tailor them to each patient's needs, and overcome obstacles. Therapists also learn how developing their own mindfulness practice can enhance therapeutic relationships and personal well-being. The Appendix offers recommendations for working with specific clinical problems. Free audio downloads (narrated by the authors) and accompanying patient handouts for selected meditations from the book are available at www.sittingtogether.com. See also Mindfulness and Psychotherapy, Second Edition, edited by Christopher K. Germer, Ronald D. Siegel, and Paul R. Fulton, which reviews the research on therapeutic applications of mindfulness and delves into treatment of specific clinical problems.

Teaching the Mindful Self-Compassion Program

Teaching the Mindful Self-Compassion Program
Author: Christopher Germer
Publisher: Guilford Publications
Total Pages: 474
Release: 2019-08-14
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 1462538894

This is the authoritative guide to conducting the Mindful Self-Compassion (MSC) program, which provides powerful tools for coping with life challenges and enhancing emotional well-being. MSC codevelopers Christopher Germer and Kristin Neff review relevant theory and research and describe the program's unique pedagogy. Readers are taken step by step through facilitating each of the eight sessions and the accompanying full-day retreat. Detailed vignettes illustrate not only how to teach the course's didactic and experiential content, but also how to engage with participants, manage group processes, and overcome common obstacles. The final section of the book describes how to integrate self-compassion into psychotherapy. Purchasers get access to a companion website with downloadable audio recordings of the guided meditations. Note: This book is not intended to replace formal training for teaching the MSC program. See also two related resources for MSC participants and general readers, The Mindful Self-Compassion Workbook, by Kristin Neff and Christopher Germer, and The Mindful Path to Self-Compassion, by Christopher Germer.

Mindfulness-Based Compassionate Living

Mindfulness-Based Compassionate Living
Author: Erik van den Brink
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 293
Release: 2015-05-08
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 1317653513

Mindfulness involves learning to be more aware of life as it unfolds moment by moment, even if these moments bring us difficulty, pain or suffering. This is a challenge we will all face at some time in our lives, and which health professionals face every day in their work. The Mindfulness-Based Compassionate Living programme presents a new way of learning how to face the pressures of modern living by providing an antidote which teaches us how to cultivate kindness and compassion – starting with being kind to ourselves. Compassion involves both sensitivity to our own and others’ suffering and the courage to deal with it. Integrating the work of experts in the field such as Paul Gilbert, Kristin Neff, Christopher Germer and Tara Brach, Erik van den Brink and Frits Koster have established an eight stage step-by-step compassion training programme, supported by practical exercises and free audio downloads, which builds on basic mindfulness skills. Grounded in ancient wisdom and modern science, they demonstrate how being compassionate shapes our minds and brains, and benefits our health and relationships. The programme will be helpful to many, including people with various types of chronic or recurring mental health problems, and can be an effective means of coping better with low self-esteem, self-reproach or shame, enabling participants to experience more warmth, safeness, acceptance and connection with themselves and others. Mindfulness-Based Compassionate Living will be an invaluable manual for mindfulness teachers, therapists and counsellors wishing to bring the ‘care’ back into healthcare, both for their clients and themselves. It can also be used as a self-help guide for personal practice.

Mindfulness in the Workplace

Mindfulness in the Workplace
Author: Margaret A. Chapman-Clarke
Publisher: Kogan Page Publishers
Total Pages: 344
Release: 2016-05-03
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0749474912

Mindfulness-based interventions in organizations offer the potential to build individual and organizational resilience, engage employees and address workplace stress. Mindfulness in the Workplace is a practical guide written for practitioners who want to learn how mindfulness can be used as a change management and organizational development strategy. Drawing from the latest research evidence from neuro- and behavioural science, Mindfulness in the Workplace offers a framework and guidance on how to start evolution- not revolution- in the organization. It ensures the greatest chance of success, showing how to identify the key stakeholders and work with them on understanding the power of a mindfulness initiative, how to identify a mindfulness champion, adapt the language of mindfulness to the context of the organization, establish metrics, and measure return on investment. Mindfulness in the Workplace proposes that HR and OD professionals are best placed to understand the complexity of implementing change in organizational systems and, therefore, the practice of mindfulness need to be brought in-house, even if they bring in external mindfulness coaches to train their leaders. Case studies including Capital One Finance and the NHS Mental Health Trust cover the reasoning behind these initiatives, how they were planned, the barriers they faced, the lessons learned, and their results. This book offers a forum for HR and OD practitioners to hear from other practitioners who have implemented organizational mindfulness-based interventions using change management principles so that they can understand how they might be applied to their own practice and their own organizations.

Compassion and Caring in Nursing

Compassion and Caring in Nursing
Author: Claire Chambers
Publisher: CRC Press
Total Pages: 232
Release: 2018-05-08
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 1138030996

'Compassion, in its many manifestations, is the key to rediscovering what lies at the heart of nursing practice all over the world. It is absolutely essential that nurses start to revisit compassion as a central focus for nursing practice...' This user-friendly book adopts a patient-centred approach to care. The challenging theories are grounded in practical applications, encouraging readers to recognise opportunities for change in their daily practice. The book focuses on six key concepts central to compassionate care: A*

Mindfulness-Based Cancer Recovery

Mindfulness-Based Cancer Recovery
Author: Linda Carlson
Publisher: New Harbinger Publications
Total Pages: 210
Release: 2011-02-03
Genre: Health & Fitness
ISBN: 1608822354

A Mind-Body Approach to Healing If you have received a cancer diagnosis, you know that the hundreds of questions and concerns you have about what's to come can be as stressful as the cancer treatment itself. But research shows that if you mentally prepare yourself to handle cancer treatment by getting stress and anxiety under control, you can improve your quality of life and become an active participant in your own recovery. Created by leading psychologists specializing in oncology, the Mindfulness-Based Cancer Recovery program is based on mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR), a therapeutic combination of mindfulness meditation and gentle yoga now offered to cancer survivors and their loved ones in hundreds of medical centers, hospitals, and clinics worldwide. Let this book be your guide as you let go of fear and focus on getting well. With this eight-week program, you'll learn to: • Use proven MBSR skills during your treatment and recovery • Boost your immune function through meditation and healing yoga • Calm feelings of fear, uncertainty, and lack of control • Mindfully manage difficult symptoms and side effects • Discover your own capacity for healing and thriving after adversity

Advances in Pediatrics, E-Book 2018

Advances in Pediatrics, E-Book 2018
Author: Carol D. Berkowitz
Publisher: Elsevier Health Sciences
Total Pages:
Release: 2018-08-01
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 032365360X

Each year, Advances in Pediatrics focuses on providing current clinical information on important topics in pediatrics. This year, Dr. Carol Berkowitz has taken over as Editor, and she and her new editorial board have assembled top authors to provide updates on the following topics: Evaluation and Management of Febrile Infants

The Self-Compassion Workbook for Teens

The Self-Compassion Workbook for Teens
Author: Karen Bluth
Publisher: New Harbinger Publications
Total Pages: 174
Release: 2017-12-01
Genre: Young Adult Nonfiction
ISBN: 1626259860

Your teen years are a time of change, growth, and—all too often—psychological struggle. To make matters worse, you are often your own worst critic. The Self-Compassion Workbook for Teens offers valuable tools based in mindfulness and self-compassion to help you overcome self-judgment and self-criticism, cultivate compassion toward yourself and others, and embrace who you really are. As a teen, you’re going through major changes—both physically and mentally. These changes can have a dramatic effect on how you perceive, understand, and interpret the world around you, leaving you feeling stressed and anxious. Additionally, you may also find yourself comparing yourself to others—whether its friends, classmates, or celebrities and models. And all of this comparison can leave you feeling like you just aren’t enough. So, how can you move past feelings of stress and insecurity and start living the life you really want? Written by psychologist Karen Bluth and based on practices adapted from Kristin Neff and Christopher Germer’s Mindful Self-Compassion program, this workbook offers fun and tactile exercises grounded in mindfulness and self-compassion to help you cope more effectively with the ongoing challenges of day-to-day life. You’ll learn how to be present with difficult emotions, and respond to these emotions with greater kindness and self-care. By practicing these activities and meditations, you’ll learn specific tools to help you navigate the emotional ups and downs of the teen years with greater ease. Life is imperfect—and so are we. But if you’re ready to move past self-criticism and self-judgment and embrace your unique self, this compassionate guide will light the way.