Mindfulness therapies on health professionals

Health professionals are exposed to situations of emotional vulnerability by being in continuous contact with patients and their suffering, which can cause conditions such as compassion fatigue. To address this issue, therapies such as mindfulness are being used to reduce stress and promote self-compassion. The objective of this research was to carry out a systematic review and meta-analysis to analyse the types of mindfulness interventions that are being used for healthcare professionals and their effectiveness in reducing stress and improving self-compassion and mindfulness. Following the PRISMA guideline, a systematic review of original studies was carried out in the following databases: Medline, Scopus, Cinhal, PsycINFO, Lilacs, and Science Direct, without a limited time frame. Controlled experimental mindfulness interventions on health professionals were selected, in which the following outcome variables were measured: stress, self-compassion, and mindfulness. A meta-analysis was performed with a random effects model. In cases of very high heterogeneity, the data were analysed by subgroup. Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Therapy (MBSR) was the most often used in the studies. There is diversity in the implementation of MBSR, and a common finding is a reduction of stress and increased mindfulness in health professionals. However, studies that analyse self-compassion are scarce. The effect of these therapies varies depending on how long the individual has been practising meditation. In conclusion, more studies are needed to describe the clinical usefulness of these programmes, to jointly analyse these three variables (stress, self-compassion, and mindfulness), and to measure compassion fatigue as an outcome variable.