Mindfulness in primary care healthcare and teaching professionals and its relationship with stress at work: a multicentric cross-sectional study

• Published in: BMC family practice Vol. 22; no. 1; p. 29
• Main Authors: Magallón-Botaya, Rosa, Pérula-de Torres, Luis Angel, Verdes-Montenegro Atalaya, Juan Carlos, Pérula-Jiménez, Celia, Lietor-Villajos, Norberto, Bartolomé-Moreno, Cruz, Garcia-Campayo, Javier, Moreno-Martos, Herminia, Rodriguez, Luis Alberto, Roldán-Villalobos, Ana, Melús-Palazón, Elena, Valverde, Francisco Javier, Hachem-Salas, Nur, García-De Vinuesa, Leonor, Morillo, Carmen, Grande, Teresa, Epstein, Ronald, Borau, Luis, Arias-Vega, Raquel
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England BioMed Central Ltd 02.02.2021; BioMed Central; BMC
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Community health care; Confidentiality; Cross-Sectional Studies; Delivery of Health Care; Faculty; Female; Health aspects; Health services research; Humans; Job stress; Medical colleges; Medical personnel; Medical teaching personnel; Middle Aged; Mindfulness; Mindfulness meditation; Nurses; Occupational Stress; Population; Primary care; Primary Health Care; Primary health care professionals; Professional ethics; Psychological aspects; Questionnaires; Regulation; Response rates; Subjective well-being; Surveys; Surveys and Questionnaires; Teaching; Variables; Work stress; Working conditions; Young Adult; Spain; Subjective well-being; Primary health care professionals; Mindfulness; Work stress; Health services research
• ISSN: 1471-2296; 1471-2296
• DOI: 10.1186/s12875-021-01375-2

Work stress is a common problem among the health personnel of the Spanish National Health System. The objective of this paper is to assess the state of mindfulness among Spanish primary care providers and to evaluate its potential relationship with work stress and basic labor and sociodemographic characteristics. Cross-sectional, multi-centric study. Primary care nurses, teachers, teaching collaborators and residents assigned to six Spanish Family Medicine/Family and Community Care Departments were invited to participate (n = 475). A template was designed in Google Forms, including sociodemographic and work-related variables. The state of mindfulness was measured with the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ), while work-related stress was measured using an ordinal scale ranging from 0 to 10 points. Descriptive and inferential statistical analyses were carried out, as well as bivariate and multivariate statistics. The mean age of participants was 40,14 ± 13.12 (range:23-65 years); 66.9% were women, 42.5% internal medicine residents, 29.3% family physicians, and 20.2% nurses. More than half (54.5%) knew about mindfulness, with 24.0% have received training on it, and 22.5% were usual practitioners. The average level of mindfulness was 127.18 ± 15.45 (range: 89-177). The average score of stress at work was 6.00 ± 2.44; 49.9% (range: 0-10). 49.9% of participants scored 7 or more on the stress at work scale. There was an inverse correlation between the levels of mindfulness (FFMQ total score) and work-related stress (Spearman's r = - 0.155, p = 0.003). Significant relationships between the mindfulness practice and the level of mindfulness (F = 29.80, p < 0.001), as well as between the mindfulness practice and the level of work-related stress (F = 9.68, p = 0.042), were also found. Levels of mindfulness in primary care health providers were in line with those levels observed in other groups of health professionals. Half of all of the primary care providers suffered from a high degree of stress. Although weak, inverse relationships were observed between levels of mindfulness and stress at work, with lower values of stress at work among those who practiced mindfulness. NCT03629457 .