Improving Health and Reducing Absence Days at Work: Effects of a Mindfulness- and Skill-Based Leadership Intervention on Supervisor and Employee Sick Days
Ruben Vonderlin, Burkhard Schmidt, Miriam Biermann, Lisa Lyssenko, Monika Heinzel‐Gutenbrunner, Nikolaus Kleindienst, Martin Bohus, G. Müller
Mindfulness June 29, 2023 DOI: 10.1007/s12671-023-02172-x (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Quasi-experimental study Preregistered Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 1,830 |
| Population | Workplace supervisors and their employees, drawn from health insurance records |
| Duration | 3-day intervention; sick days assessed over 4 years (2 years pre and 2 years post intervention) |
| Topics | Meditation |
| Citations | 4 |
| Key findings | Supervisors in the mindfulness-based program had significantly fewer nonspecific sick days post-intervention (13.9 days) than matched controls (32.9 days), an effect sensitivity analyses attributed mainly to increased sick days in the control group. Employee sick days did not differ significantly between conditions. The authors indicate the program may positively affect supervisors' nonspecific sick days and might be cost-effective, though effects did not occur at the employee level. |
Abstract
Abstract Objectives Mindfulness-based programs (MBPs) at the workplace have attracted increasing interest due to their positive effects on health and work-related outcomes. However, it is unclear whether these effects translate into reductions in cost-related and objectively assessed outcomes, such as sick days. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of an MBP for supervisors on reduction of sick days of both supervisors and their employees.
Method: We conducted a quasi-experimental study comparing the effects of a 3-day MBP for supervisors to a passive control cohort based on propensity score matching. Sick days for supervisors (n = 13 in the MBP group; n = 269 in the control group) and their employees (n = 196 in the MBP group; n = 1352 in the control group) were drawn directly from their health insurance records over 4 years; 2 years before (pre) and 2 years after (post) the start of the intervention. A generalized linear model was used to analyze sick days after the intervention, adjusted for pre-intervention sick days.
Results: Supervisors in the MBP condition showed significantly lower nonspecific (general) sick days (M = 13.9 days) compared to their matched controls at post-intervention (M = 32.9 days, χ2[1] = 4.38, p = 0.036, d=0.47). Sensitivity analyses showed that this effect was driven mainly by an increase in sick days in the control group. At the employee level, both specific and nonspecific sick days did not differ significantly between the MBP and control conditions.
Conclusions: Our results indicate that MBPs for supervisors at the workplace have the potential to positively affect their nonspecific sick days. Although these effects did not occur at the employee level, the data provide a first indication that MBPs offered at the workplace might be cost-effective. Preregistration The study was preregistered at the German Register of Clinical Studies (DRKS-ID: DRKS00013635).
Comparable studies
Other experimental studies on meditation, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| The benefits of being present: Mindfulness and its role in psychological well-being. Cancer patients (clinical intervention study) | 2003 | Mixed methods: scale development, correlational, quasi-experimental, laboratory, experience-sampling, and clinical intervention study | |
| Loving-kindness meditation increases social connectedness. | 2008 | Controlled laboratory experiment | |
| Mindfulness and mind-wandering: Finding convergence through opposing constructs. | 2012 | Two studies: correlational study and experimental study | |
| Mental Training Enhances Attentional Stability: Neural and Behavioral Evidence | 2009 | Experimental study | |
| Mindfulness meditation and substance use in an incarcerated population. Incarcerated population | 2006 | Quasi-experimental with treatment-as-usual control condition |
Citations in the library
Cites 8
- Mindfulness: A proposed operational definition. Clinical Psychology Science and Practice 2004
- Mindfulness, Trust, and Leader Effectiveness: A Conceptual Framework Frontiers in Psychology July 10, 2019
- Effectiveness of virtual mindfulness-based interventions on perceived anxiety and depression of physicians during the COVID-19 pandemic: A pre-post experimental study. Frontiers in Psychiatry January 9, 2023
- Mindfulness-based online intervention increases well-being and decreases stress after Covid-19 lockdown. Scientific Reports April 20, 2022
- Mindfulness Training Reduces Stress At Work: A Randomized Controlled Trial. Mindfulness April 2019
and 3 more in the library