In a large sample of adults from 130 countries, higher mindfulness was linked to lower perceived stress and slightly higher work engagement. Each standard deviation increase in mindfulness corresponded to a 0.52 standard deviation decrease in stress and a 0.06 standard deviation increase in engagement. After a six-week mindfulness MOOC, participants reported substantially higher mindfulness, reduced stress, and a small improvement in work engagement. The findings suggest mindfulness is a modifiable personal resource that may protect against stress and support engagement, and that online courses can deliver these benefits affordably to many people.
A new 9-item scale, the Observed Mindful Behaviours (OMB), measures how attentive, aware, and accepting a person appears to someone who knows them. Based on data from 190 pairs of raters and targets, the scale shows good reliability and validity. Observed mindful behavior aligns moderately with self-reported trait mindfulness and interpersonal mindfulness, and correlates positively with empathy and psychological capital, and negatively with psychological inflexibility, distress, and anger reactivity. It does not relate to prosocial intentions. The OMB can complement self-report measures in mindfulness research.
Workplace mindfulness training produces small to moderate beneficial effects on mindfulness, stress, anxiety, psychological distress, well-being, and sleep, according to a meta-analysis of 23 randomized controlled trials. Effect sizes ranged from g = 0.26 for sleep to g = 0.69 for psychological distress. No reliable conclusions could be drawn for burnout (ambiguous results), depression (publication bias), or work performance (insufficient data). The authors consider how mindfulness might fit with job demands-resources, coping, and prevention theories of work stress, and they note limitations in study designs and reporting.