title: Effectiveness of a mindfulness-based intervention on oncology nurses' burnout and compassion fatigue symptoms: A non-randomized study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Job stress and burnout are highly frequent in healthcare professionals, and prevalence in nurses can be as high as 40%. Mindfulness-based interventions have been shown to be effective in reducing stress and increasing well-being in a wide range of populations and contexts. However, controlled studies with healthcare professionals, and especially nurses, are scarce.
  The aim of this study was to explore the effectiveness of an on-site, abbreviated mindfulness-based intervention for nurses, using a nonrandomized, wait-list comparison design. The effectiveness of the intervention was measured through several validated self-report measures that participants completed before and after the intervention, assessing burnout, compassion fatigue, psychological symptoms, mindfulness, self-compassion, experiential avoidances, rumination, and satisfaction with life.
  
  
  METHODS
  A sample of 94 oncology nurses agreed to participate in the study and self-selected into an experimental (n=45) and comparison condition (n=48). Complete data was obtained for 48 of the initial 94 participants, mainly due to poor follow-up data rather than high drop-out rate.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Statistical analyses included a series of 2×2 ANOVAs and ANCOVAs. Results indicated that nurses in the intervention reported significant decreases in compassion fatigue, burnout, stress, experiential avoidance, and increases in satisfaction with life, mindfulness and self-compassion, with medium to large effect sizes. Nurses in the comparison group didn't present significant changes in these variables. Results also pointed to a high degree of acceptability of the intervention.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study provides preliminary evidence that mindfulness-based interventions may be efficacious in reducing oncology nurses' psychological symptoms and improving their overall well-being, and thus may be worthy of further study in this population.
authors.affiliation: Cognitive-Behavioural Centre for Research and Intervention (CINEICC), University of Coimbra, Portugal. Electronic address: joana.fm.duarte@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Joana
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Duarte
authors.affiliation: Cognitive-Behavioural Centre for Research and Intervention (CINEICC), University of Coimbra, Portugal.
authors.forename: José
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Pinto-Gouveia
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002055:Burnout, Professional / Q000628:therapy*; D000068376:Compassion Fatigue / Q000628:therapy*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D064866:Mindfulness; D009859:Oncology Nursing; D015397:Program Evaluation
keywords: Burnout; Compassion fatigue; Mindfulness-based intervention; Nurses; Oncology; Stress