The benefits of mindfulness-based interventions on burnout among health professionals: A systematic review

Healthcare professional burnout affects performance and has a negative impact on healthcare as a whole. Mindfulness-based Interventions (MIs), developed over the last 30 years, are increasingly used by healthcare professionals to reduce the risk of burnout. Yet the impact of MIs on burnout remains to be clarified. This review aimed to summarize and evaluate the existing literature on the potential benefits of MIs to minimize burnout risk.

We conducted a systematic review of the literature, reporting according to the PRISMA standards. PubMed, Psychinfo, Web of Science and Science Direct databases were screened for original articles. Articles in English assessing an MI in combination with burnout measures were included up to September 2018.

Thirty-four articles were included. Only four randomised controlled trials concluded to burnout improvement after several weeks of MIs (11,8%). In the remaining five randomised controlled trials, results did not reach statistical significance. Of the four controlled, non-randomised studies, three showed significant improvements on burnout. Twenty-one studies did not report a controlled trial design. Overall the results appeared to be widely heterogeneous and several methodological concerns arose from the review.

This review shows the overall insufficient level of evidence offered by the literature assessing the effects of MIs on burnout in health professional populations. However, some studies have reported promising results and future research should address methodological issues and define more precise contexts of interventions and target populations that could benefit from MIs.