The Effect of Mindfulness Meditation on Therapists’ Body-Awareness and Burnout in Different Forms of Practice

Objectives: The main aim of this study was to explore if mindfulness increase therapists’ (physiotherapists and sport therapists) body-awareness and if it can have an effect on reducing their burnout in the workplace. Additionally it was intended to gather evidence about which methods (face-to-face groups FFGs with an instructor or self-directed group SDG) of mindfulness meditation program (MMP) were more effective with therapists.

Methods: Online tools such as websites, skype and online surveys were used with participants as part of the methodology. Seven measurements were used to assess the effect of mindfulness meditation on therapists after 4 week of formal and informal practise.

Results: Our results showed that attention regulation, self-regulation and trusting in FFGs had significant improvement in pre and post meditation practise. Findings showed significant differences between groups for the FFGs. Particularly, our findings indicated a clear improvement in the acting with awareness, positive affect of mindfulness, emotional awareness and reduction in burnout. However, no changes were observed in stress.

Conclusions: MMP has positively affected therapists, specifically in the FFGs. Therapists in the FFGs gained benefits from mindfulness to improve their body-awareness and less level of burnout at workplace. The benefits of the mindfulness programme were more significant when delivered in a face-to-face programme rather than in a self –directed way.