Mindfulness-based interventions in the workplace: An inclusive systematic review and meta-analysis of their impact upon wellbeing

ABSTRACT

Given the demanding nature of many professions, efforts are ongoing to develop initiatives to improve occupational wellbeing, including mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs). To assess the efficacy of MBIs, meta-analytic procedures were conducted on 35 randomized controlled trials derived from an earlier inclusive systematic literature search (covering all occupations, MBIs, and wellbeing-related outcomes). Mindfulness had moderate effects on deficit-based outcomes such as stress (SMD = −0.57), anxiety (SMD = −0.57), distress (SMD = −0.56), depression (SMD = −0.48), and burnout (SMD = −0.36), and moderate to small effects on asset-based outcomes like health (SMD = 0.63), job performance (SMD = 0.43), compassion and empathy (SMD = 0.42), mindfulness (SMD = 0.39), and positive wellbeing (SMD = 0.36), while no effects were observed for emotional regulation. However, the quality of the studies was inconsistent, suggesting more high-quality randomised controlled trials are needed.

KEYWORDS:

• Mindfulness
• meditation
• occupational
• wellbeing
• meta-analysis

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Supplementary Material

Supplementary data for this article can be accessed here.

Additional information

Funding

Dr. Eiroa-Orosa has received funding from the European Union's Framework Programme for Research and Innovation Horizon 2020 (2014–2020) under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Grant Agreement No 654808.