Effectiveness of a mindfulness program in changing attitudes to reduce work stress: a randomized controlled trial

Worker safety is fundamental in any organization, so we propose a mindfulness-based program enhanced by virtual reality (VR) to improve attitudes toward preventing occupational risks and accidents and reduce work-related stress in an industrial company. The program was implemented as a complement to Behavior-Based Safety (BBS) of nine 30-min sessions delivered in person and continuously by two researchers; VR was used in three of the nine sessions. Each session was divided into motivation, knowledge development, transfer, evaluation, and closure sections. The control group worked only with BBS, a standard methodology designed to reduce workplace accidents and injuries through systematic observation and intervention in worker behavior. A randomized block design (RBD) was used with a sample of 34 workers from high-risk industrial areas, who were matched by their sociodemographic characteristics and randomly assigned to one of the two groups. An attitude scale regarding occupational risk prevention (accidents) and a work-related stress scale were used for the assessment. The results showed a significant improvement in attitudes toward occupational risk prevention (p < 0.005) and a reduction in work-related stress, although this finding was not statistically significant according to MANOVA and Bonferroni correction. In conclusion, this study shows that mindfulness complements and significantly improves attitudes toward occupational risk prevention.