Loving-kindness and compassion meditations in the workplace: A meta-analysis and future prospects.
Rong Wang, Xiaodan Gu, Yang Zhang, Kangzhou Luo, Xianglong Zeng
Stress and health : journal of the International Society for the Investigation of Stress February 1, 2024 DOI: 10.1002/smi.3273 (opens in new tab) via PubMed
Summary
AI-generated from the abstractLoving-kindness and compassion meditation (LKCM) reduces burnout, stress, and improves mindfulness, self-compassion, mental health, job attitudes, interpersonal relationships, and psychological resources among employees, based on a meta-analysis of 21 trials. Effect sizes ranged from small to moderate (g = 0.283 to 0.646). The benefits varied by participants' job type, gender, and the meditation's focus. The authors call for more research on long-term effects, underlying mechanisms, and organizational-level outcomes.
Study at a glance
| Characteristics | Meta-analysis Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Population | Employees |
| Intervention | Loving-kindness and compassion meditation |
| Topics | Meditation |
| Keywords | Compassion Employees Loving kindness Well-being |
| Key finding | Loving-kindness and compassion meditation effectively decreases employee burnout and stress and facilitates mindfulness, self-compassion, mental health, job attitudes, interpersonal relationships, and psychological resources. |
Abstract
Loving-kindness and compassion meditation (LKCM) have been well applied among employees to improve their health and well-being. Existing studies on LKCM have also provided supportive evidence of its benefits and effectiveness under organizational contexts. The current meta-analytical study aimed to systematically summarise the effects of LKCM in the workplace and to outline directions for future research and practice. Among 327 empirical studies on LKCM published until March 2022, 21 trials focussed on employees and provided sufficient information, which were included in the following meta-analysis. The results showed that LKCM benefited eight categories of workplace outcomes. Specifically, LKCM effectively decreased employees' burnout (g = 0.395, k = 10) and stress (g = 0.544, k = 10) and facilitated their mindfulness (g = 0.558, k = 14), self-compassion (g = 0.646, k = 12), personal mental health (g = 0.308, k = 13), job attitudes (g = 0.283, k = 4), interpersonal relationships (g = 0.381, k = 12), and psychological resources (g = 0.406, k = 6). The results of moderation analyses further indicated that the participants' job type, gender, and the focus of LKCM might differentially fluctuate the magnitude of LKCM effects. To advance research and best practice, we finally pointed out several issues that deserve attention, such as long-term effects, underlying mechanisms, potential moderators, and outcomes or influential factors at the organizational level.