Effects of Five-Minute Mindfulness Meditation on Mental Health Care Professionals

Abstract

The positive effects of the traditional one-hour mindfulness meditation on the psychological and physical aspects of health care professionals have been well documented in various studies (Shapiro, Astin, Bishop, & Cordova, 2005; Shapiro, Brown, & Biegel, 2007; Walsh & Shapiro, 2006). However, according to Vettese, Toneatto, Stea, Nguyen, and Wang (2009), less than one-quarter of their meditation participants followed through with the daily 30- to 60-minute mindfulness home practice. This study aimed to examine the use of 5-minute mindfulness meditation to reduce the stress level and to increase the mindfulness level among mental health care professionals for 7 consecutive days. In addition, the correlation between mindfulness level and stress level was examined. The participants of this study were recruited through email that was sent via The Chicago School email system. This study was performed online and was a single group pre- and post-test model. A significant decrease in the stress level associated with the five minute daily mindfulness exercise was found. There was not a statistically significant increase in the observed level of mindfulness. However, the mindfulness scores did indicate a potential trend toward significance. A significant correlation was shown between the stress level and the mindfulness level from the post-tests of Perceived Stress Scale and Freiburg Mindfulness Inventory.