Mindfulness for Healthcare Providers: The Role of Non-Reactivity in Reducing Stress
Open accessAbstract
Context There is strong evidence in the literature that the cultivation of mindfulness through programs such as Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) has a profound impact on perceived stress for healthcare providers. The mechanism of the latter association is still being studied. However, it has been hypothesized that in particular, the cultivation of non-reactivity as a mindfulness skill may be particularly associated with the salutary effect of MBSR to reduce stress in health care providers even if adjusted for the benefit on quality of life gained after MBSR. The latter may represent important mechanistic information to build customized mindfulness interventions for health care providers.Objective Determine whether the change in non-reactivity to inner experience after MBSR is associated with the adjusted changes in perceived stress after MBSR.Design a Cross-sectional study.Setting A large, Midwestern teaching hospital.Participants 100 health care providers.Intervention 8-week standard MBSR course.Main outcome measures Perceived Stress Scale-10, Linear Analog Scale Assessment to measure Quality of life, and the mindfulness domain non-reactivity to inner experience was assessed by the non-reactivity subscale of the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire. All measures were administered at baseline and completion of the intervention.Results The change from baseline to completion of MBSR was significant for all variables, with moderate-to-robust effect sizes. There was a significant negative correlation between non-reactivity and perceived stress both at baseline (p < 0.0001) and when comparing changes in scores from baseline to post-intervention (p < 0.0001). Change in non-reactivity to inner experience was robustly associated with the change in perceived stress (p < 0.0001) after MBSR (97% in 5000 bootstrapped models).Conclusion Non-reactivity to inner experience is a key aspect of MBSR that is independently associated with a change in perceived stress in health care providers.
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Previous studies have found that non-reactivity plays a more specific role in reducing stress and improving cognitive flexibility after mindfulness-based interventions.
“Previous studies have found that non-reactivity plays a more specific role in reducing stress and improving cognitive flexibility after mindfulness-based interventions [28, 60, 61].”
From Effectiveness of an age-modified mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) in improving mental health in older people with depressive symptoms: a non-randomised controlled trial. (2025) · cites this paper as [60]
The Results and Discussion report that non-reactivity improved after MBSR and that its change was strongly associated with reduced perceived stress in healthcare providers. The paper does not report improved cognitive flexibility, and its stress finding is an association rather than proof that non-reactivity caused the reduction. (LLM, conf=0.88)
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“It is well-established in the literature that increases in trait mindfulness mediate the effect MBSR has on stress, and recent research suggests that non-reactivity to inner experiences may be particularly a responsible with the benefits of MBSR.(8) Nonreactivity to inner experiences refers the ability to remain calm…”
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- Authors
- Benzo, R. P., Anderson, P. M., Bronars, C., & Clark, M.
- Affiliations
- Mayo Clinic (US)
- Corresponding author
- Benzo, Roberto P.
- Venue
- EXPLORE
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2018-11
- Volume
- 14
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 453-456
- ISSN
- 1550-8307 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC6295257
- OpenAlex
- W2887038699
- Cited by
- 29
- References
- 14
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 4 · 2019: 1
- FWCI
- 2.35
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- EXPLORE (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institutes of Health (1 R43 AT009665-01)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Mindfulness and Compassion Interventions
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Healthcare professionals’ stress and burnout
- Social Sciences › Health › Religion, Spirituality, and Psychology
- Keywords
- mindfulness, non-reactivity, perceived stress, healthcare workers, mindfulness-based stress reduction, quality of life, Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire, stress reduction
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Cross-Sectional Studies, Health Personnel, Humans, Perception, Quality of Life, Surveys and Questionnaires, Stress, Psychological, Midwestern United States, Mindfulness
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