Effectiveness of a mindfulness-based intervention on oncology nurses’ burnout and compassion fatigue symptoms: A non-randomized study

Background Job stress and burnout are highly frequent in healthcare professionals, and prevalence in nurses can be as high as 40%. Mindfulness-based interventions have been shown to be effective in reducing stress and increasing well-being in a wide range of populations and contexts. However, controlled studies with healthcare professionals, and especially nurses, are scarce. Objectives, design and setting The aim of this study was to explore the effectiveness of an on-site, abbreviated mindfulness-based intervention for nurses, using a nonrandomized, wait-list comparison design. The effectiveness of the intervention was measured through several validated self-report measures that participants completed before and after the intervention, assessing burnout, compassion fatigue, psychological symptoms, mindfulness, self-compassion, experiential avoidances, rumination, and satisfaction with life. Participants A sample of 94 oncology nurses agreed to participate in the study and self-selected into an experimental (n = 45) and comparison condition (n = 48). Complete data was obtained for 48 of the initial 94 participants, mainly due to poor follow-up data rather than high drop-out rate. Results Statistical analyses included a series of 2 × 2 ANOVAs and ANCOVAs. Results indicated that nurses in the intervention reported significant decreases in compassion fatigue, burnout, stress, experiential avoidance, and increases in satisfaction with life, mindfulness and self-compassion, with medium to large effect sizes. Nurses in the comparison group didn't present significant changes in these variables. Results also pointed to a high degree of acceptability of the intervention. Conclusions This study provides preliminary evidence that mindfulness-based interventions may be efficacious in reducing oncology nurses’ psychological symptoms and improving their overall well-being, and thus may be worthy of further study in this population.