Mindfulness-based training interventions for employees: A qualitative review of the literature (original) (raw)
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Mindfulness training in the workplace: exploring its scope and outcomes
European Journal of Training and Development, 2020
Purpose As the concept of mindfulness gains popularity in the workplace, there is a need to understand the extent to which mindfulness-related practices are integrated into training and development activities and the impact of these practices on employees and organizations. The purpose of this study is to provide an overview of the scope of mindfulness as an intervention in the workplace and to identify outcomes of mindfulness-related training activities at the individual, job/work, team/group and organizational levels. Design/methodology/approach Torraco (2005) and Briner and Denyer's (2012) four steps (search, selection, analysis and synthesis) for conducting an integrative literature review were used for this study. This method enabled us to compare and contrast relevant articles, integrate distributed information, create new knowledge and provide research directions on mindfulness practices in work settings. Findings Through a revision of 28 empirical studies, the authors fo...
Frontiers in psychology, 2018
Mindfulness trainings are increasingly offered in workplace environments in order to improve health and productivity. Whilst promising, there is limited research on the effectiveness of mindfulness interventions in workplace settings. To examine the feasibility and effectiveness of a Workplace Mindfulness Training (WMT) in terms of burnout, psychological well-being, organizational and team climate, and performance. This is a preliminary field study in four companies. Self-report questionnaires were administered up to a month before, at start of, and right at the end of the WMT, resulting in a pre-intervention and an intervention period. There was no separate control group. A total of 425 participants completed the surveys on the different time points. Linear mixed model analyses were used to analyze the data. When comparing the intervention period with the pre-intervention period, significantly greater improvements were found in measures of burnout (mean difference = 0.3, < 0.001...
What Do We Really Know About the Effects of Mindfulness-Based Training in the Workplace?
Industrial and Organizational Psychology, 2015
In an attempt to distill what we know about the effects of workplace mindfulness-based training, Hyland, Lee, and Mills (2015) cast a wide net with regard to the array of studies included in their review. For example, they include studies that investigate the benefits associated with workplace mindfulness training (e.g., Wolever et al., 2012) as well as training conducted for patients within primary care settings (e.g., Allen, Bromley, Kuyken, & Sonnenberg, 2009). In addition, their review includes studies based on self-reports of individual differences in mindfulness traits/skills (e.g., Hafenbrack, Kinias, & Barsade, 2014). Reviewing a broad cross-section of research is helpful to illustrate the wide-ranging nature of mindfulness research but also has the potential to obfuscate what we know about mindfulness as it pertains to workers and workplaces.
Mindfulness, 2014
Employees of a call center working for a financial institution took part in a brief mindfulness-based intervention (MBI). Each day, during five consecutive weeks, they listened to two short guided meditation sessions using a headset at their workstation (10 min in the morning and 5 min after lunch). A pretest-post-test switching-replication design was used to assess changes in mindfulness, psychological distress, and client satisfaction over the course of the intervention. During the first portion of the study, group 1 (n=18) acted as the intervention group while group 2 (n=25) acted as the control group. During the second portion, the intervention was replicated, and the roles of the two groups were switched. Data were collected using self-report questionnaires at baseline (t1), week 6 (t2), and week 11 (t3) and examined using both analysis of variance and prediction analysis. The results showed that mindfulness increased while psychological distress (stress, anxiety/depression, fatigue, and negative affect) decreased for all employees throughout the intervention, especially among those with low mindfulness scores at baseline. The satisfaction level of the employees' internal clients significantly increased over time, although the effect size was small. This article contributes to the field of mindfulness at work by (1) introducing a novel MBI specifically designed for call centers, (2) assessing the impact of the intervention on client satisfaction, and (3) doing so using a research design and a statistical technique which have never been used in mindfulness studies.
A systematic review and meta-analysis of workplace mindfulness training randomized controlled trials
Journal of Occupational Health Psychology
This meta-analytic review responds to promises in the research literature and public domain about the benefits of workplace mindfulness training. It synthesizes randomized controlled trial evidence from workplace-delivered training for changes in mindfulness, stress, mental health, wellbeing and work performance outcomes. Going beyond extant reviews, this paper explores the influence of variability in workforce and intervention characteristics for reducing perceived stress. Meta-effect estimates (Hedge's g) were computed using data from 23 studies. Results indicate beneficial effects following training for mindfulness (g=0.45, p<0.001) and stress (g=0.56, p<0.001); for the mental health indicators anxiety (g=0.62, p<0.001) and psychological distress (g=0.69, p<0.001); and for wellbeing (g=0.46, p=0.002) and sleep (g=0.26, p=0.003). No conclusions could be drawn from pooled data for burnout due to ambivalence in results, for depression due to publication bias, or for work performance due to insufficient data. The potential for integrating the construct of mindfulness within demands-resources, coping and prevention theories of work stress is considered in relation to the results. Limitations to study designs and reporting are addressed, and recommendations to advance research in this field are made.
The effect of mindfulness training on employees in a dynamic organizational setting
Ijmbs, 2014
The access to information and multiple sources of communication has changed the way we work, and relate to our work day. The boundaries between work and home often disappear, increasing potentially employees' stress level, diminishing cognitive capabilities, and splitting attention between numerous tasks. The consequences of multitasking have been widely studied, as well as individual differences. Based on other studies, mindfulness based stress reduction (MSBR) method appears to have a positive effect e.g. on attention, working memory, stress and empathy. Thus, this experiment introduces an intervention in the form of mindfulness training, which lasted for 12 weeks for all 110 employees, who are located in 13 countries world wide. In addition, employees attended a seminar per week during 10 weeks. These seminars were mainly based on positive psychology. In order to collect data three surveys were sent out (before the intervention, 12 weeks after the first seminar and 6 months later). Two specific measurements were used, which are Mindfulness Awareness Scale (MASS) and Perceived Stress Scale (PSS). Findings showed a significant increase in MAAS, and diminishing values in PSS, meaning that treatment, in the form of MBSR had an affect on the perceived stress in the firm.
Impact of Daily Workplace Mindfulness Training
Journal of Alternative, Complementary & Integrative Medicine, 2019
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of a daily month-long workplace mindfulness-training program among workers of a local housing authority. The study aimed to determine if the mindfulness training decreased participants' self-reported anxiety, depression and work stress and improved self-reported physical health and work-life balance. This study adds to the growing body of literature on workplace mindfulness programs and describes the impact of a previously untested mindfulness training program. Methods Study design and procedures The study used a single group pre-post design. Unlike the often-used Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program which is an eight-week program, this program consisted of 21 daily (Monday-Friday) 1-hour sessions for 1 month between mid-August and mid-September, 2014 [6,7]. The program included instruction on
Work (Reading, Mass.), 2021
BACKGROUND: Mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) are known for their beneficial effects on positive and negative psychological factors. When applied in an occupational context, MBIs might help workers to cope with stress, increase their professional outcomes and wellbeing. OBJECTIVE: In this two-groups pre-post experimental design we tested the effect of our MBI, called Integral Meditation (IM), among the employers of an Italian service company by measuring positive and negative aspects of psychological wellbeing related to mindfulness and workplace functioning through eight self-report questionnaires (CORE-OM, FFMQ, WEMWBS, MAIA, PSS, PANAS, STAI-X1, SCS). METHOD: Forty-two voluntary non-clinical employers of the company, randomly assigned to the experimental or the control group, were analyzed. The experimental group underwent our IM program, which consists of 12 weekly meditation classes given after the afternoon shift, while the control group did not receive any intervention. ...
Organizations' Perceptions of Mindfulness and Mindfulness Training in their Workplaces
Many companies have been training their employees on how to be more mindful at work (Winter, 2016). However, some people are skeptical of mindfulness (Simpson, Simpson, Wood, Mercer, & Mair, 2018). Mindfulness is a state of consciousness in which individuals focus their attention on the present moment (Sutcliffe, Vogus, & Dane, 2016). This study uses the reasoned action approach to explore if human resource managers or people in similar positions have a more favorable view of mindfulness training in their organization after using salient behavioral benefits, behavioral skills, and normative referents (Ajzen & AlbarracĂn, 2007). This study also provides the participants’ most salient behavioral benefits and behavioral skills of mindfulness training and normative expectations of ways to incorporate mindfulness in their organization. After I interviewed sixteen participants, results indicated that (a) the top salient behavioral skills of mindfulness training is communication improvement and the top salient behavioral benefit of mindfulness training is stress reduction; (b) participants had a more favorable outlook on mindfulness training in their organizations after I explained that mindfulness programs can lead to their desired employee training outcomes; and (c) participants in this study tended to have normative expectations of incorporating in-person mindfulness workshops/training and yoga. Additionally, participants in this study tended to think others would be skeptical of mindfulness trainings despite their favorable opinion. This phenomenon reflects the findings of third-person perception (Eisend, 2017).
An Integrative Review on the Research Progress of Mindfulness and Its Implications at the Workplace
Sustainability
Mindfulness has rapidly become a significant subject area in many disciplines. Most of the work on mindfulness has focused on the perspective of health and healthcare professionals, but relatively less research is focused on the organizational outcomes at the workplace. This review presents a theoretical and practical trajectory of mindfulness by sequential integration of recent fragmented scholarly work on mindfulness at the workplace. The review showcases that most contemporary practical challenges in organizations, such as anxiety, stress, depression, creativity, motivation, leadership, relationships, teamwork, burnout, engagement, performance, well-being, and physical and psychological health, could be addressed successfully with the budding concept of mindfulness. The causative processes due to higher mindfulness that generate positive cognitive, emotional, physiological, and behavioral outcomes include focused attention, present moment awareness, non-judgmental acceptance, sel...