Mindfulness, Compassion, and Self-Compassion Among Health Care Professionals: What's New? A Systematic Review

A systematic review of 58 studies examined mindfulness and compassion in health care professionals (HCPs), who face high burnout and compassion fatigue risks. Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) improved and maintained mindfulness and self-compassion, and reduced burnout, depression, anxiety, and stress. Mindfulness-related trainings improved mindfulness and self-compassion but did not affect compassion fatigue. Compassion-related interventions improved self-compassion, mindfulness, and interpersonal conflict. Mindfulness reduced negative affect and compassion fatigue, while compassion satisfaction may relate to positive affect. The authors suggest combining structured mindfulness and compassion training to enhance effects and improve comparability across future studies.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Health care professionals (HCPs) are a population at risk for high levels of burnout and compassion fatigue. The aim of the present systematic review was to give an overview on recent literature about mindfulness and compassion characteristics of HCPs, while exploring the effectiveness of techniques, involving the two aspects, such as MBSR or mindfulness intervention and compassion fatigue-related programs. A search of databases, including PubMed and PsycINFO, was conducted following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines and the methodological quality for this systematic review was appraised using AMSTAR-2 (A MeaSurement Tool to Assess systematic Reviews-2). The number of articles that met the inclusion criteria was 58 (4 RCTs, 24 studies with pre-post measurements, 12 cross-sectional studies, 11 cohort studies and 7 qualitative studies). MBSR intervention was effective at improving, and maintaining, mindfulness and self-compassion levels and to improve burnout, depression, anxiety, stress. The most frequently employed interventional strategies were mindfulness-related trainings that were effective at improving mindfulness and self-compassion, but not compassion fatigue, levels. Compassion-related interventions have been shown to improve self-compassion, mindfulness and interpersonal conflict levels. Mindfulness was effective at improving negative affect and compassion fatigue, while compassion satisfaction may be related to cultivation of positive affect. This systematic review summarized the evidence regarding mindfulness- and compassion-related qualities of HCPs as well as potential effects of MBSR, mindfulness-related and compassion-related interventions on professionals' psychological variables like mindfulness, self-compassion and quality of life. Combining structured mindfulness and compassion cultivation trainings may enhance the effects of interventions, limit the variability of intervention protocols and improve data comparability of future research.