title: Passage meditation improves caregiving self-efficacy among health professionals: a randomized trial and qualitative assessment.
abstract: Relational caregiving skills remain seldom studied in health professionals. We evaluated effects on health professional relational caregiving self-efficacy from an eight-week, 16-hour training in self-management tools. Physicians, nurses, chaplains, and other health professionals were randomized after pretest to treatment (n = 30) or waiting list (n = 31). Training used a previously researched program of Easwaran (1991/1978) derived from spiritual wisdom traditions. Changes were measured using a 34-item caregiving self-efficacy scale. Positive effects were observed at posttest, eight- and 19-week follow-up (ds = .38, .47, .37, all ps < .05), and were mediated by adherence to practices and stress reductions (p < .05), findings also obtained in qualitative interviews (n = 24). Evidence suggests this program enhances health professional caregiving self-efficacy, and may merit inclusion in training curricula.
authors.affiliation: School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, USA. DougOman@post.Harvard.edu
authors.forename: Doug
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Oman
authors.forename: T Anne
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Richards
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hedberg
authors.forename: Carl E
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Thoresen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D017028:Caregivers / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006282:Health Personnel / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D016014:Linear Models; D008297:Male; D019122:Meditation / Q000523:psychology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009726:Nurses / Q000523:psychology; D010820:Physicians / Q000523:psychology; D020377:Self Efficacy; D029181:Spirituality; D013315:Stress, Psychological; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires