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Mindfulness interventions reduce mental health symptoms in healthcare professionals who were on the front lines during the COVID-19 pandemic. This is true both in a group with guidance from a trainer and in independent interventions via online exercises. Radboudumc research, published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine, shows that both approaches lead to significant improvements in depressive, anxiety and physical symptoms up to six months after having ended the intervention.
Soon after the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, it was clear it had a major impact on the mental health of frontline health workers: symptoms of depression, anxiety, insomnia and post-traumatic stress increased rapidly. Mental support for primary care providers to reduce psychological symptoms was therefore needed. For caregivers themselves, as well for the sustainability of care delivery and dropout prevention.
With or without guidance
To investigate whether mindfulness can be effective in this, a study was set up under the direction of the Radboudumc Expert Center for Mindfulness. A total of 201 healthcare providers took part in it, including doctors, nurses and support staff. Participants attended either a four-week, supervised mindfulness training program or an individual self-guided intervention with online mindfulness and compassionate exercises. Although the guided training was slightly more effective in reducing symptoms in the short term, both groups were found to show similar recovery in the longer term. “That both forms had positive effects highlights the potential of mindfulness,” says physician-researcher Marieke Arts-de Jong, “even in situations where counseling is not always possible.”
Biggest effect during intervention
Strikingly only the supervised group showed an increase in post-traumatic growth; in going through a personal development after a major event. Peer support may have played a role in this. The absence of a control group (no treatment or usual treatment) in this study means no absolute conclusions can be drawn about the effectiveness of the interventions studied. Arts-de Jong: “On the other hand, we see a fast improvement after mindfulness treatments, while we know, from other research into the natural course of these complaints with healthcare providers, that the improvement with these groups is usually slower and more gradual.”
Paper in Journal of General Internal Medicine: Mindfulness‑Based Interventions for Mental Health Outcomes in Frontline Healthcare Workers During the COVID‑19 Pandemic: A Randomized Controlled Trial - Marieke Arts‑de Jong, Dirk E. M. Geurts, Philip Spinhoven, Henricus G. Ruhé, Anne E. M. Speckens
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