Risks of Burnout Among Mobile Crisis Team Workers in a Southern U.S. State: A Pilot Study of Work Climate and Mindfulness.
Junfei Lu, Karen A Johnson, Paige Parish, Shanna McIntosh, David L Albright
Community Mental Health Journal October 7, 2026 DOI: 10.1007/s10597-026-01736-0 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Pilot survey study Pilot study Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 50 |
| Population | Frontline mental health workers on Mobile Crisis Teams across 11 community mental health centers in a southern U.S. state |
| Topics | Meditation |
| Keywords | Mental health Burnout Work climate Mobile crisis |
| Key findings | Among 50 Mobile Crisis Team workers, 31.3% reported moderate to high exhaustion and 14.6% reported moderate to high depersonalization. After controlling for sex, race, and work experience, individual mindfulness specifically predicted exhaustion and perceived work climate specifically predicted depersonalization. |
Abstract
The present pilot study examined burnout symptoms among frontline mental health workers in Mobile Crisis Teams (MCTs) and explored their associations with perceived work climate (an indicator of organizational resources) and individual mindfulness (an indicator of personal resources) after controlling for sex, race, and work experience, based on the Job Demands-Resources model. Survey data were collected from 50 participants offering mobile crisis services across 11 community mental health centers in a southern U.S. state, representing the full set of centers that had received funding to provide mobile crisis services statewide. Findings showed that 31.3% and 14.6% of participants disclosed moderate to high degrees of exhaustion and depersonalization - two key burnout symptoms. Also, the results of regression analyses indicated that individual mindfulness and work climate specifically helped predict participants' exhaustion and depersonalization, respectively, after controlling for sex, race, and work experience. Implications were discussed for burnout prevention among workers in MCTs.
Comparable studies
Other cross-sectional and survey studies on meditation, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Construct Validity of the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire in Meditating and Nonmeditating Samples Experienced meditators and nonmeditating comparison groups | 2008 | Cross-sectional study | |
| Neural Correlates of Dispositional Mindfulness During Affect Labeling Adult participants | 2007 | Observational cross-sectional | n = 27 |
| Assessing mindfulness in children and adolescents: Development and validation of the Child and Adolescent Mindfulness Measure (CAMM). School-aged children and adolescents | 2011 | Cross-sectional validation study | n = 1,413 |
| Mindfulness and self-compassion as predictors of psychological wellbeing in long-term meditators and matched nonmeditators Experienced meditators and demographically matched nonmeditators | 2012 | Cross-sectional study | n = 152 |
| Mechanisms of Action in the Inverse Relationship Between Mindfulness and Psychological Distress Undergraduates | 2008 | Cross-sectional, correlational |