Does a six-week online mindfulness intervention affect burnout in registered nurses working in an adult inpatient rehabilitation setting during the COVID-19 pandemic?

ABSTRACT

Burnout syndrome is a state of emotional, physical, and mental exhaustion that affects approximately 70% of nurses globally. Nurses are at higher risk for experiencing burnout due to work, home, and career demands. The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the number of nurses experiencing burnout, as they continue to care for patients in highly stressful environments. Mindfulness meditation is a successful strategy for mitigating and managing burnout. Nursing leaders must raise awareness regarding burnout, lack of self-care, and wellbeing among nurses. The purpose of this quasi-experimental, pretest-posttest interventional study design was to examine if a six-week online mindfulness intervention decrease burnout levels related to emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and feelings of personal accomplishment, as measured by Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) Toolkit, in registered nurses who cared for adults in a single, inpatient urban care setting located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Thirty-eight consenting registered nurses (RNs) participated in the study. The intervention group (n =25) participated in the mindfulness intervention only. The comparison group (n =13) did not participate in the intervention. Data findings supported statistically significant improvement in MBI subscale PA (p = 0.00006) and clinically significant change in MBI subscale EE (from 27.6 to 24.0) post-intervention. These results suggest that healthcare organizations should implement weekly mindfulness intervention activities to mitigate nurse burnout. Additionally, replication studies are warranted to identify and examine predictors related to burnout and study interventions to mitigate burnout and improve mental well-being. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)