The Impact of an Innovative Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Program on the Health and Well-Being of Nurses Employed in a Corporate Setting

A telephone-based Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (tMBSR) program, replacing most in-person sessions, improved general health, decreased stress, and reduced work burnout among 36 nurses in a large health care organization. Improvements were sustained four months later, and nurses who continued MBSR practice after the program showed better outcomes than those who did not. The findings suggest tMBSR is a low-cost, feasible, and scalable intervention that can benefit employees unable to attend traditional on-site programs.

Study at a glance

Abstract

This study implemented an innovative new model of delivering a Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program that replaces six of the eight traditional in-person sessions with group telephonic sessions (tMBSR) and measured the program's impact on the health and well-being of nurses employed within a large health care organization. As part of a nonrandomized pre-post intervention study, 36 nurses completed measures of health, stress, burnout, self-compassion, serenity, and empathy at three points in time. Between baseline (Time 1) and the end of the 8-week tMBSR intervention (Time 2), participants showed improvement in general health, t(37) = 2.8, p < .01, decreased stress, t(37) = 6.8, p < .001, decreased work burnout, t(37) = 4.0, p < .001, and improvement in several other areas. Improvements were sustained 4 months later (Time 3), and individuals who continued their MBSR practice after the program demonstrated better outcomes than those that did not. Findings suggest that the tMBSR program can be a low cost, feasible, and scalable intervention that shows positive impact on health and well-being, and could allow MBSR to be delivered to employees who are otherwise unable to access traditional, on-site programs.