Association of psychological and physiological measures of stress in health‐care professionals during an 8‐week mindfulness meditation program: mindfulness in practice
Stress and Health August 23, 2005 Mary Lou Galantino, Michael Baime, Maureen Maguire et al. 216 citations
An 8-week mindfulness meditation program for health-care professionals did not significantly change salivary cortisol levels, a biomarker of stress. However, participants reported improvements in mood (average increase of 12.4 points on the Profile of Mood States) and reduced emotional exhaustion (average decrease of 4.54 points on the Maslach Burnout Inventory). Correlations between self-reported stress and cortisol were weak and not statistically significant. Changes in empathy were not detected, possibly due to the program's lack of effect, sample size, or measurement sensitivity. The psychometric results suggest that further clinical trials of mindfulness meditation for stress reduction in health-care professionals are warranted.