Mindfulness-Based Social Work and Self-Care with Social Work Professionals: Replication and Expansion of a Randomised Controlled Trial

“Common methods bias may have been introduced to the study through the use of self-report measures (Podsakoff et al. , 2003).”

“The reliability of the scores on the PSS among this sample was found to be acceptable (Cronbach’s a ¼ 0.86).”

“We attempted to reduce any potential bias by ensuring that the facilitators were blinded during the data collection and analyses processes; however, facilitator awareness of which programme was being delivered may have introduced potential bias (Higgins et al. , 2011).”

“Mindfulness is defined as ‘ the awareness that emerges through paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment, and non-judgementally to the unfolding of experience moment by moment ’ (Kabat-Zinn, 2003, p. 145).”

“The Penn State Worry Questionnaire (PSWQ) (Meyer et al. , 1990) is a measure which assesses the intense and uncontrollable nature of worry.”

“The Self-Compassion Scale—Short Form (SCS-SF) (Raes et al. , 2011) is a measure which assesses an individual’s self-compassion.”

“This is line with Khoury et al. (2013), who in a meta-analysis of 209 studies on MBP effectiveness, found that greater fa-cilitator experience of mindfulness might have an indirect effect on the clinical outcomes of participants.”

“The Rumination Reflection Questionnaire – Rumination subscale (RRQ) (Trapnell and Campbell, 1999) is a 12-item measure of rumination which assesses the level to which a person engages in repetitive thoughts about past experience.”

“The Philadelphia Mindfulness—Acceptance Subscale (PHLMS-A) (Cardaciotto et al. , 2008) is a measure which assesses the construct of acceptance.”

“The Experiences Questionnaire—Decentering (EQ-D) (Fresco et al. , 2007) is a measure which assesses decentering, or the ability to see our thoughts or emotions in a detached, or unemotional manner.”

“The scale comprises four, four-item, subscales assessing (i) Mindful observation (SMQ-MO); (ii) Non-attachment (SMQ-NA); (iii) Aversion (SMQ-Av); (iv) Non-judgement (SMQ-NJ).”

“Replication studies are also needed to accurately advise social work service providers, service commissioners, and funding agencies about the optimal forms of self-care and support programmes to invest in (Ougrin et al. , 2015).”

“The Warwick–Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale (WEMWBS) (Tennant et al. , 2007) is a measure of mental well-being comprising four-teen items.”

“There is a growing acceptance that MBPs can improve recovery, resilience, and more adaptive responses to stress (Craigie et al. , 2016).”

“The Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBP) (Maslach et al. , 1996) is a measure of work-related burnout which has been used to assess burnout among social workers and a range of other occupational groups (Crowder and Sears, 2017).”

“Replicated RCTs which examine the effectiveness of MBPs on relevant mindfulness mechanisms of action, which have identified as being important cognitive and emotional regulation strategies of stress, burnout, anxiety, depression and well-being (Maddock and Blair, 2023), are also needed in order to improve the methodol…”

“…MSC (38 per cent) in this RCT were nearly identical to those in Maddock et al. (2023a) (12 per cent and 34 per cent, respectively), with the attrition rate in MBSWSC much lower than the mean average attrition rate (29 per cent) in other RCTs including MBPs (29 per cent; Nam and Toneatto, 2016).”

“Interestingly, there is growing evidence that MBPs may have benefit beyond those for the individual, including enhanced work performance, engagement, working relationships, and work–life balance (Allen et al. , 2015).”

“Linked to this, limited replicated knowledge exists about the mechanisms of action of MBPs, particularly those focussing on social work stress, burnout, mental health and well-being (Maddock and Blair, 2023).”

“…of MBPs (Trowbridge and Mische Lawson, 2016, p. 103), comprises eight, weekly 2–2.5-hour sessions and 1 full day session totalling approximately twenty-six hours in class; and forty-five minutes home practice for six of seven weekdays across programme duration (Trowbridge and Mische Lawson, 2016).”

“The high levels of stress and concern over social worker’s mental health, although worrying, are not new in social work and have led to calls for new, innovative, and integrated solutions to support and enhance the well-being of social work professionals (Kinman et al. , 2020).”

“MBSWSC has been developed specifically for social work professionals, responding to the need for tailored, accessible MBPs for social workers; reflecting the demands of the profession, and targeting prevalent symptoms of stress and burnout (Maddock et al. , 2022).”

“More research is required to understand the dose–response relationship in mindfulness interventions (Thomas, 2017); with a lack of certainty existing around whether longer or briefer MBPs are more effective (Dharmawardene et al. , 2015).”

“However, there remains a lack of evidence on the effectiveness of briefer MBPs (Hosseinzadeh Asl, 2022), which may be more suitable for workplace settings with busy professionals, such as social work, due to reduced time commitments for participants (Craigie et al. , 2016; Isbel et al. , 2020).”

“Mindfulness has also been evidenced to improve attention control, increase compassion, reduce rumination, and lower depression and PTSD symptomology (Whitmoyer et al. , 2020).”

“This programme distinguishes itself from other MBPs due to its foundations in the clinically modified Buddhist psychological model (CBPM; Maddock, 2023).”

“Hsiao et al. (2019) suggest there are growing concerns around the lack of replication of mindfulness studies casting doubt on the ability to reproduce similar findings and effects; reflecting growing calls for increased rigour and replication in the field (Van Dam et al. , 2018).”

“This programme distinguishes itself from other MBPs due to its foundations in the clinically modified Buddhist psychological model (CBPM; Maddock, 2023).”

“…across an eight-week MBP, with findings indicating four weeks mindfulness training, with thirty minutes of daily home practice, allows for proficiency in mindfulness practice to develop, with the final four weeks offering opportunity for refinement of mindfulness practice (Isbel et al. , 2020).”

“Indeed there is evidence to suggest that social workers are more likely to engage with MBPs when they are tailored specifically to the needs of social workers, are supportive of their practice, and are promoted and endorsed by their organisation (Maddock et al. , 2023b).”

“The literature points to replication studies as a means to confirm findings, replicate results, assess generalisability, improve processes and expand conclusions in a range of cohorts and across various sectors/conditions (Yusainy and Wicaksono, 2019).”

“Using a cross-sectional study design, a convenience and purposive sample of social workers were recruited from participants of two randomized controlled trials comparing the effects of MBSWSC on stress and burnout in social workers in Northern Ireland (Maddock et al., 2023, 2024).”

“Several of the significant direct and indirect effects found in the analysis of the change scores from Maddock et al. (2023) and Maddock et al. (2024) were also found within the baseline data, meaning that we cannot attribute these significant effects to MBP participation.”

“…which draw on learning from existing standardised programmes but see these protocols refined and adapted to reflect specific occupational needs of social workers and organisational characteristics of social work organisations is growing (Maddock et al., 2023 , 2024a , b ; Ong et al., 2024 ).”

“Since the search period was until 2023, the one by the same author in 2024 was not included (Maddock et al., 2024).”

“This study’s sample were from two RCTs comparing the effects of MBSWSC versus MSC on the depression, anxiety, and mental well-being levels of professional social workers in Northern Ireland (Maddock et al., 2023 ; Maddock et al., 2024 ).”

“Additionally, a 6-session online Mindfulness-Based Social Work and Self-Care (MBSWSC) program for social workers has been found to be effective (Maddock et al., 2024).”

“The addition of psycho-education on the roles that mindfulness practices and behavioural activation play in reducing worry, rumination, psychological distress and PTSD could also support improved outcomes by increasing mental health literacy and homework adherence [27, 31, 54, 55].”

“…of the Mindfulness-based Social Work and Self-Care programme (MBSWSC), a programme whose development was based on the CBPM, which is building a robust evidence base, that these processes do lead to such beneficial effects for social work students and practitioners (Maddock et al., 2023, 2024a).”