A Brief Mindfulness-Based Intervention for Primary Care Physicians: A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial
Open accessAbstract
Primary care physicians experience high rates of burnout, which results in diminished quality of life, poorer quality of care, and workforce attrition. In this randomized controlled trial, our primary aim was to examine the impact of a brief mindfulness-based intervention (MBI) on burnout, stress, mindfulness, compassion, and resilience among physicians. A total of 33 physicians completed the baseline assessment and were randomized to the Mindful Medicine Curriculum (MMC; n = 17) or waitlist control group (n = 16). Participants completed self-report measures at baseline, post-MBI, and 3-month follow-up. We also analyzed satisfaction with doctor communication (DCC) and overall doctor rating (ODR) data from patients of the physicians in our sample. Participants in the MMC group reported significant improvements in stress (P < .001), mindfulness (P = .05), emotional exhaustion (P = .004), and depersonalization (P = .01) whereas in the control group, there were no improvements on these outcomes. Although the MMC had no impact on patient-reported DCC or ODR, among the entire sample at baseline, DCC and ODR were significantly correlated with several physician outcomes, including resilience and personal achievement. Overall, these findings suggest that a brief MBI can have a positive impact on physician well-being and potentially enhance patient care.
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Of the nine mindfulness-based education studies with control groups, six implemented a waitlist style control.
“of these, six37 38 40 41 50 60 implemented a waitlist style control”
From Workplace interventions to improve well-being and reduce burnout for nurses, physicians and allied healthcare professionals: a systematic review. (2023) · cites this paper as [38]
Schroeder et al, Werneburg et al and Mistretta et al all reported that reductions in levels of stress were maintained at the 3-month follow-up.
“Schroeder et al.38 Werneburg et al45 and Mistretta et al4 all reporting that reductions in levels of stress were maintained at the 3-month follow-up.”
From Workplace interventions to improve well-being and reduce burnout for nurses, physicians and allied healthcare professionals: a systematic review. (2023) · cites this paper as [38]
Four mindfulness-based education studies documented emotional exhaustion levels as measured by the Maslach Burnout Inventory, with three reporting improvements following the intervention.
“Four4 7 38 50 studies documented EE levels as measured by the MBI with three4 38 50 reporting improvements following the intervention.”
From Workplace interventions to improve well-being and reduce burnout for nurses, physicians and allied healthcare professionals: a systematic review. (2023) · cites this paper as [38]
Schroeder et al and Colgan et al both reported improvements in resiliency levels using the Brief Resilience Scale for participants following the mindfulness-based education sessions compared with the control groups.
“Schroeder et al38 and Colgan et al40 both reported improvements in resiliency levels using the Brief Resilience Scale for participants following the MBE sessions compared with the control groups.”
From Workplace interventions to improve well-being and reduce burnout for nurses, physicians and allied healthcare professionals: a systematic review. (2023) · cites this paper as [38]
In Schroeder et al, the increase in resiliency was not enough to be significant.
“however, the increase in resiliency for participants in the study by Schroeder et al38 was not enough to be significant.”
From Workplace interventions to improve well-being and reduce burnout for nurses, physicians and allied healthcare professionals: a systematic review. (2023) · cites this paper as [38]
Mindfulness-based interventions are feasible and lead to improved health outcomes among several high-stress populations, such as military personnel, physicians, firefighters, and inner-city teachers.
“MBIs have been shown to be feasible and to lead to improved health outcomes among several high-stress populations, such as military personnel [32, 33], physicians [34, 35], firefighters [36], and inner-city teachers [37].”
Significant burnout reductions were maintained at follow-ups ranging from 3 months to 9 months.
“Significant reductions in burnout were maintained ranging from 3-month (Ducar et al. 2019; Schroeder et al. 2016) to 9-month (Fortney et al. 2013) follow-up.”
From The Effectiveness of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction on the Psychological Functioning of Healthcare Professionals: a Systematic Review (2021) · cites this paper as Schroeder et al. 2016
Only two included studies measured resilience, and both reported non-significant findings.
“only two studies measured resilience and both reported non-significant findings (Fortney et al. 2013; Schroeder et al. 2016).”
From The Effectiveness of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction on the Psychological Functioning of Healthcare Professionals: a Systematic Review (2021) · cites this paper as Schroeder et al. 2016
In the 2-day programmes, non-significant findings were reported for stress, burnout, self-compassion, resilience, and personal accomplishment.
“non-significant findings for stress, burnout (Trowbridge et al. 2017), self-compassion, resilience and personal accomplishment (Schroeder et al. 2016) were also reported.”
From The Effectiveness of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction on the Psychological Functioning of Healthcare Professionals: a Systematic Review (2021) · cites this paper as Schroeder et al. 2016
Two included MBSR programmes were 2 days long and produced significant improvements in stress, mindfulness, emotional exhaustion, and depersonalisation.
“Two MBSR programmes were 2 days in duration and yielded significant improvements for stress, mindfulness, emotional exhaustion and depersonalisation (Schroeder et al. 2016; Trowbridge et al. 2017)”
From The Effectiveness of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction on the Psychological Functioning of Healthcare Professionals: a Systematic Review (2021) · cites this paper as Schroeder et al. 2016
Most studies on short mindfulness programmes demonstrate that they are effective at improving some outcomes, particularly psychological distress, and this seems independent of the volume of the intervention and population type.
“In fact, most of the studies on short mindfulness programmes demonstrate that they are effective at improving some outcomes (Klatt et al., 2009; Braden et al., 2016; Schroeder et al., 2016), particularly psychological distress, and this seems to be independent of the volume of the intervention (number of sessions × session length), and population type (Carmody and Baer, 2009).”
From Efficacy of 8- and 4-Session Mindfulness-Based Interventions in a Non-clinical Population: A Controlled Study (2017) · cites this paper as Schroeder et al., 2016
A more realistic amount of practice (~20 min) is recommended for non-clinical populations.
“Moreover, a more realistic amount of practice (~20 min) is recommended for non-clinical populations (Klatt et al., 2009; Braden et al., 2016; Schroeder et al., 2016).”
From Efficacy of 8- and 4-Session Mindfulness-Based Interventions in a Non-clinical Population: A Controlled Study (2017) · cites this paper as Schroeder et al., 2016
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- Authors
- Schroeder, D. A., Stephens, E., Colgan, D., Hunsinger, M., Rubin, D., & Christopher, M. S.
- Affiliations
- Pacific University Oregon (US)
- Providence Heart Clinic, Portland, OR (DAS)
- Corresponding author
- Christopher, Michael S.
- Venue
- American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2016-02-04
- Volume
- 12
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 83-91
- ISSN
- 1559-8276 (ISSN-L)
- 1559-8284
- PMC
- PMC6125016
- OpenAlex
- W2267914313
- Cited by
- 109
- References
- 32
- Citations by year
- 2026: 6 · 2025: 13 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 11 · 2022: 14 · 2021: 23 · 2020: 16 · 2019: 12 · 2018: 5 · 2017: 3
- FWCI
- 8.92
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Providence Health System Clinical Transformation Council (Mindful Medicine: Improving Physician Mindfulness)
- 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
- mindfulness-based interventions, physician burnout, primary care physicians, occupational stress, compassion, resilience, emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, physician well-being, patient satisfaction, physician-patient communication
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