The Effects of Mindfulness Meditation on Burnout in Clinical Genetic Counselors: A Three-Arm Randomized Controlled Trial.
medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences January 16, 2026 Colleen Caleshu, Maryann Campion, Jehannine J Austin et al.
Mindfulness meditation may reduce burnout and stress among genetic counselors. In a randomized controlled trial with 397 clinical genetic counselors in the US, those assigned to 10 minutes of daily app-based mindfulness meditation for eight weeks showed lower burnout and stress compared to a no-meditation control group. The effect on burnout was large. However, the active control meditation designed to mimic mindfulness without its techniques did not perform as an inert control, so the primary comparison between mindfulness and active control was inconclusive. Further research with more diverse samples and better controls is needed.