Cited by 42Mindfulness and Compassion InterventionsHealthcare professionals’ stress and burnoutStress and Burnout Research

Effects of mobile mindfulness on emergency department work stress: A randomised controlled trial

Open access
Xu, Hui (Grace), Eley, Robert, Kynoch, Kathryn, Tuckett, Anthony·2022·Emergency Medicine Australasia

Abstract

Objective: High‐occupational stress among ED staff has a detrimental impact on both staff wellness and patient care. The objective of the study is to determine whether 4 weeks of smartphone app‐guided mindfulness practice reduces stress levels of ED staff. Methods: This two‐arm randomised controlled trial was conducted in two Australian EDs in 2019–2020. Eligible participants were randomly assigned (1:1) to either an App group or a Wait to Treat group to practice daily 10 min app‐guided mindfulness for 4 weeks. Online surveys were collected for both groups at three time periods: before (T1), immediately after (T2) and 3 months after cessation (T3). Then the Wait to Treat group received the same intervention, followed by surveys immediately after the intervention (T4) and 3 months later (T5). Primary outcome was measured using the Perceived Stress Scale. Secondary outcomes were measured using the Maslach Burnout Inventory (three subscales: emotional exhaustion, depersonalisation and personal accomplishment), Mindfulness Attention Awareness Scale and Warwick‐Edinburgh Mental Well‐being Scale. Both intention‐to‐treat and per‐protocol analysis were performed. Repeated measurement data were analysed by the linear mixed model. Results: Of 148 enrolled participants 98 completed all the surveys, but only half (48%) reported continuous use of the app. Based on the results of the intention‐to‐treat analysis, there was a statistically significant improvement of perceived stress levels ( F = 15.70, P < 0.001), all three components of burnout (emotional exhaustion [ F = 14.22, P < 0.001], depersonalisation [ F = 3.62, P = 0.030], personal accomplishment [ F = 7.51, P < 0.001]), mindfulness ( F = 8.83, P < 0.001) and wellbeing levels ( F = 10.71, P < 0.001) from pre‐intervention to 3 months later with small effect sizes. Conclusion: Results of the present study demonstrate that brief mindfulness training via innovative digital technology had a small positive effect in improving emergency staff stress, burnout, mindfulness and wellbeing.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1111/1742-6723.13836

Cites

40 of 40 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • Independence of time and place for use, accessibility and embedding into daily routines were mentioned as advantages most often.

    “particularly the independence of time and place for use, accessibility and embedding into daily routines were mentioned as advantages most often [17, 31, 39, 46, 51].”

    From Advantages and disadvantages of mobile applications for workplace health promotion: A scoping review (2024) · cites this paper as [39]

    The Discussion describes accessibility and use at any time and place as advantages of the app. It does not say these advantages were mentioned most often, and it describes incorporating the practice into daily life as a challenge rather than an advantage. No page numbers are available in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.86)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
  • Two studies concluded that infection risks were reduced, which was essential during the COVID-19 pandemic.

    “Furthermore, two studies concluded that infection risks also were reduced, which was essential during the COVID-19 pandemic [32, 39].”

    From Advantages and disadvantages of mobile applications for workplace health promotion: A scoping review (2024) · cites this paper as [39]

    The Discussion (page unavailable) says the app may be better suited to COVID-19 social-distancing requirements, and Implications says digital interventions can be useful when isolation is required. The paper does not conclude that the intervention reduced infection risks; its reported outcomes concern stress, burnout, mindfulness and wellbeing. (LLM, conf=0.82)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
  • Flexibility due to 24-hour availability and independence of time and place was appreciated by participants in a study on truck drivers.

    “This flexibility, due to 24-hour availability and independent of time and place, was appreciated by the participants in a study on truck drivers, who typically are difficult to reach in terms of local health promotion measures [34, 39, 52].”

    From Advantages and disadvantages of mobile applications for workplace health promotion: A scoping review (2024) · cites this paper as [39]

    The Discussion says the mindfulness app could be used at any time and in any place. But the Setting, participants and recruitment section identifies the study participants as emergency department staff, not truck drivers, and the paper does not report that participants specifically appreciated the app’s flexibility. (LLM, conf=0.88)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
  • Truck drivers typically are difficult to reach in terms of local health promotion measures.

    “This flexibility, due to 24-hour availability and independent of time and place, was appreciated by the participants in a study on truck drivers, who typically are difficult to reach in terms of local health promotion measures [34, 39, 52].”

    From Advantages and disadvantages of mobile applications for workplace health promotion: A scoping review (2024) · cites this paper as [39]

    The Implications section says busy healthcare workers can be hard to reach through traditional face-to-face interventions. But the study recruited emergency-department staff, not truck drivers, and does not establish that truck drivers are difficult to reach through local health-promotion measures. (LLM, conf=0.84)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
  • Nine studies focussed on nurses or healthcare employees.

    “Nine studies focussed on nurses or healthcare employees [29, 31, 33, 35, 37, 39, 41, 49, 56].”

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

2 of the 42 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.

Research works printed but not linked: 1

  1. [23]23. Lau N, O'Daffer A, Clolt S, Yi-Frazier JP, Palermo TM, McCauley E, et al. Science or snake oil? Asystematic review of iPhone and Android smartphone applications for psychosocial wellness and stress management. J Med Internet Res 2020;8(5):e17798.

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Xu, H. (., Eley, R., Kynoch, K., & Tuckett, A.
Affiliations
  • The University of Queensland (AU)
  • Mater Health Services (AU)
Corresponding author
Xu, Hui (Grace)
Venue
Emergency Medicine Australasia
Publisher
Wiley
Published
2021-08-10
Volume
34
Issue
2
Pages
176-185
ISSN
  • 1035-6851 (ISSN-L)
  • 1742-6731
  • 1742-6723
OpenAlex
W3192078766
Cited by
42
References
42
Citations by year
2026: 12 · 2025: 9 · 2024: 13 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 5
FWCI
3.58
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Emergency Medicine Australasia (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • QUT ePrints (Queensland University of Technology) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc)
  • Griffith Research Online (submittedVersion)
Funders
Emergency Medicine Foundation (EMJS‐323R31‐2019‐XU)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Mindfulness and Compassion Interventions
  • Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Healthcare professionals’ stress and burnout
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Stress and Burnout Research
Keywords
occupational stress, burnout, emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, personal accomplishment, psychological well-being, emergency department staff, healthcare worker well-being, digital mental health interventions
MeSH terms
Occupational Stress, Australia, Burnout, Professional, Emergency Service, Hospital, Humans, Mindfulness

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review