Authors: Claudia Orellana-Rios, Lukas Radbruch, Martina Kern, Yesche Regel, Andreas Anton, Shane Sinclair and Stefan Schmidt
Year: 2017
Title: Mindfulness and compassion-oriented practices at work reduce distress and enhance self-care of palliative care teams: a mixed-method evaluation of an “on the job“ program
Summary: Notwithstanding the extensive body of work exploring meditation and mindfulness, there is a shortage of studies that address the potential of compassion based interventions in the workplace. A national survey of palliative care practitioners had established that for 42% of respondents, frequent patient deaths was a challenging aspect of their work. Although many people report beneficial effects from delivering compassionate care, extensive exposure to suffering can be a problem for workers. This investigation recruited participants from a palliative care centre in Bonn, Germany. Ten weeks of training in meditation combining a number of elements including, mindfulness, loving kindness and tong-len was provided. A range of mixed measures was used to establish the benefits of the practice including, a battery of self-reporting questionnaires, semi-structured interviews and a physiological measure. In conclusion, no evidence that participants experienced an increase in compassion was observed. However, improvements were reported by participants in areas including self-care and emotional regulation. The was no significant change to the cortisol levels taken as part of the trial.
Given the complex nature of introducing compassion into this particular work environment, the mixed method approach should be commended. Where compassion, loving-kindness and mindfulness are brought together as an ‘omnibus’ approach, a degree of epistemological plurality is likely to be required to gain a full understanding of the results. Reliably evaluating the effects of one approach (such as compassion) in such a trial can be a challenge in itself. However to integrate three approaches (mindfulness, compassion and loving-kindness) into a working environment, then to understand their effect individually and collectively, is making great demands of the self-reporting instruments.
It should be noted that in a recent meta-study investigating the pro-social effects of meditation, the teaching of the meditation practice by a co-author of the research was seen to be an influential factor. The precise nature of the meditation taught in this case is unclear and may, to some extent, be related to the individual approach of the teacher. The assumption that different kinds of meditation, such as compassion (tong-len), all fit within an easily replicated framework is perhaps the result of the theoretical uncertainty withing psychology towards contemplative science. There is still a shortage of data exploring how interrelated constructs such as loving-kindness and compassion might influence behaviour in the workplace. In this regard, the study provides useful information that may help the understanding of these constructs in particular working environments.
The Science of Meditation and Mindfulness 