Reducing Burnout by Developing Mindfulness: A Pilot Study of a Micro-Habit Mobile Application.

BACKGROUND

Burnout is a debilitating syndrome associated with emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and a low sense of personal accomplishment. For medical students, studies suggest that burnout related to stress may begin as early as their first year and can be associated with poor academic performance, general distress, substance abuse, and suicidal ideation.

PRIMARY STUDY

OBJECTIVE

Previous literature suggests that mindfulness training, breathing exercises, and social support can be protective against the effects of burnout. Our study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of a new wellness program consisting mainly of brief, daily, mindfulness-based micro-habit training sessions.

METHODS/

DESIGN

The study adopted a single-group before-and-after design for a duration of eight weeks.

PARTICIPANTS

Twelve medical students consented to participate (7 female); mean age = 26.25 years (SD = 4.4).

INTERVENTION: The micro-habit intervention is delivered by a mobile app and is supported by weekly peer-circle meetings. The micro-habits are taught by listening to self-contained 90-second mindfulness exercises, at least once daily, five days per week.

PRIMARY OUTCOME MEASURES: Maslach burnout inventory, a well-established 22-item self-report survey; Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS21), a 21-item version of the DASS42; and Weekly Stress Scale, for which participants reported their stress level in terms of one of the categories (i.e., green, amber, or red) each week.

RESULTS

The six participants who completed the post-intervention Maslach inventory exhibited a significant decline in emotional exhaustion (P = .03, 1-tailed) with a large effect size (d = 0.99). The five participants who completed the DASS21 at post-intervention averaged a considerable but non-significant decline in anxiety (d = 0.57).

CONCLUSION

Despite the small sample size, it is encouraging that even a brief micro-habit intervention, one suited to busy medical students, can produce a considerable decrease in burnout symptoms, warranting a study with a larger cohort.

KEYWORDS: burnout, mindfulness, habits, micro-habits, stress, wellness, medical students.