Evaluation of a mindfulness intervention in palliative care teams

Abstract

The aim of this study is to assess the outcome of a brief mindfulness training program on mindful attention, self-compassion, and professionals’ quality of life in palliative care teams. A pre-post pre-experimental study was carried out. Thirty-six professionals from palliative care teams from Madrid (Spain) participated in the study. Mindfulness, self-compassion, and professionals’ quality of life were assessed. Evaluations were carried out at the beginning of the intervention and two weeks after the intervention, which lasted six weeks. The program’s results were assessed using multivariate analyses of variance (MANOVA). After the intervention, there was an improvement of mindfulness, self-compassion, and burnout risk levels lowered, regardless of the profession. This mindfulness based short psychosocial intervention in a group of palliative care professionals was associated to an improvement of self-awareness levels and self-compassion, and a decrease of perceived burnout risk.