Improving performance and happiness among healthcare workers through a body-mind approach in a healthcare setting in Sri Lanka.
Work (Reading, Mass.) October 17, 2016 DOI: 10.3233/wor-162395 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Qualitative study Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 500 |
| Population | Volunteer health personnel in the western province |
| Intervention | Insight meditation |
| Topics | Meditation |
| Keywords | Cognitive ergonomics Mental health Ripple effect Workers’ health |
| Key findings | Initial qualitative information indicated improvement of some aspects of cognitive ergonomics among those who practiced insight meditation, including relief from stress, improvements in commitment to work, and team spirit. |
Abstract
Cognitive ergonomics in the work place has become a serious concern with the need to keep people happy at work while maintaining high productivity. Hence, it is worth exploring how the outcomes of lifestyle-based mind development programs can bring about happiness in workplace while keeping productivity and quality of services high. The objective of the present work was to test a body-mind technique to improve cognitive ergonomics in a health care work setting. Principal investigator explored many body-mind techniques before selecting the present method of "insight meditation" which he mastered before applying it on a group of scholars who made it a part of their lifestyle. Later it was introduced to a sample of 500 volunteer health personnel in the western province to generate a ripple effect of happiness at work. Initial qualitative information indicated improvement of some aspects of cognitive ergonomics among those who practiced it. There was a relief from stress during the practice sessions and improvements in the commitment to work and in team spirit. A demand was observed for further training. A quasi-experimental study to test the improvements is underway. Health workers showed interest in the mind training and potential benefits to individuals and the institutions were observed.