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News — Mental health and emotional well-being hit an all-time low during the COVID-19 pandemic, but psychological problems continue to afflict many people in the U.S. Work stress may be a primary contributor – it being strongly associated with poorer emotional and physical well-being, as well as high absenteeism and low presenteeism. Around 8% of U.S. health care costs are attributable to work-related stressors, particularly among medical providers, with 45% reporting high levels of job burnout.

Mindfulness meditation may reduce work-related stress, as it seeks to encourage awareness of the present moment and promote self-regulation. While workplaces have invested in in-person mindfulness programs, these formats cannot be easily scaled and disseminated, making them less cost-effective and leaving many without adequate opportunities for reducing stress. Mindfulness delivered via self-guided smartphone apps may offer convenient alternatives, with the benefit of standardization of instruction and participants controlling how they access treatment.

To determine whether self-guided mindfulness could prove a potent tool in combatting workplace stress and burnout, researchers from the launched a large mindfulness trial for over 1,400 UCSF employees. They found that those who received digital mindfulness meditation (versus a control group) felt greater satisfaction and engagement with their job months later. They also felt happier, less anxious and more mindful of their daily life.

The published Jan. 14 in JAMA Network Open.

“Our team found significant, sustained improvements in well-being, job enjoyment and mindfulness, particularly for those who meditated more,” said study first author , PhD, a psychologist and UCSF assistant professor of psychiatry. “This study confirms prior findings indicating psychological benefits of mindfulness practice for employees and extends them to a digital platform.” 

As little as five-minutes a day decreases stress

In the study, the researchers randomized a large sample of employees at UCSF (an academic medical center) to a commercially available digitally delivered meditation platform (Headspace) or to a waitlist control condition. As a primary measure of the treatment’s effectiveness, they looked at the immediate treatment impacts and the maintenance of improvements in perception of psychological distress. Secondarily, they examined work stress, job strain, burnout, work engagement, subjective mindfulness, and symptoms of depression and anxiety in both groups. They also looked at how well those in the treatment group adhered to the intervention.

Participants randomized to digital meditation showed significant improvements in all study outcomes immediately post-treatment, including reductions in levels of global stress, job strain and work burnout, depression and anxiety. They also had increases in mindfulness, job reward and work engagement. At a four-month follow-up, these improvements were maintained. Greater treatment adherence, of at least five meditation minutes per day, was associated with greater reductions in perceived stress.

“The mechanisms by which digital mindfulness interventions impart benefits on both general and work-related stress may include an improved capacity to cope with and positively reappraise stressful situations, said study co-senior author , PhD, UCSF professor of psychiatry. “Digital mindfulness appears to be a low-cost, low burden way of improving employee health at scale.”

The study team believes future studies may needed to enhance compliance to the treatment intervention and to better characterize the treatment mechanisms. In the short run, increased mindfulness can help overcome trauma and loss in addition to improving well-being.

“Mindfulness is not just for daily stress. It is a critical component of coping with acute stress and preventing trauma from having long term effects on mental and physical health, said study co-senior author , PhD, UCSF professor in the department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences. “For example, right now there is an emergency response to bring psychological first aid to victims of the Los Angeles wildfires, and mindfulness is one critical component of that response. It is used as a grounding technique that shifts our attention away from anxious thoughts and to the present moment, through sensory experiences such as focusing on touch, sight, sound, or our breathing. This attentional shift to our senses can quickly calm our nervous system.”

Additional UCSF authors: Julie Vacarro, MA, Elena Fromer, BA, Sarah E. Ahmadi, BA, Joanna Y. Guan, BA, Sarah M. Fisher, MS. Outside authors include: Sarah D. Pressman, PhD, John F. Hunter, PhD, Kate Sweeny, PhD, A. Janet Tomiyama, PhD, Lauren Tiongco Hofschneider, PhD, Matthew J. Zawadzki, PhD, Larisa Gavrilova, PhD.

Funding: The research was supported by the UCSF Healthy Campus Network, Headspace, Inc., and the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) K23AT011048 (to RMR).

 About UCSF Health: UCSF Health is recognized worldwide for its innovative patient care, reflecting the latest medical knowledge, advanced technologies and pioneering research. It includes the flagship UCSF Medical Center, which is a , as well as UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospitals, with campuses in San Francisco and Oakland; Langley Porter Psychiatric Hospital and Clinics; UCSF Benioff Children’s Physicians; and the UCSF Faculty Practice. These hospitals serve as the academic medical center of the University of California, San Francisco, which is world-renowned for its graduate-level health sciences education and biomedical research. UCSF Health has affiliations with hospitals and health organizations throughout the Bay Area. Visit . Follow UCSF Health on or on . 

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