Abstract
Mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) have been tested to be the effective approach for reducing burnout. This study aimed to synthesize the scientific evidence and quantify the pooled effect of MBIs on the burnout syndrome in medical students.
Primary Author and Speaker: Cheng Lin
Additional Authors and Speakers: Zhizhuo Wang, Peiyun Wu
Contributing Authors: Jing Yang
Burnout is highly prevalent among medical students (Almutairi et al., 2022). Mindfulness-based interventions have been tested to be the effective approach for preventing/reducing burnout in medical students (Oró et al., 2021). Prior systematic review and meta-analysis primarily focused on the effectiveness of MBIs for burnout reduction in healthcare professionals. Therefore, this systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to synthesize the scientific evidence and quantify the pooled effect of MBIs on the burnout syndrome in medical students. A comprehensive literature search was conducted in the databases, including PubMed, Embase, ERIC, PsycINFO, Scopus, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), China National knowledge Information Database (CNKI) and WanFang Database from database inception to February 2023 using the terms of ‘mindfulness’, ‘burnout’ and ‘medical students’. Two reviewers independently reviewed the studies, and extracted the data of the eligible studies, as well as assessed the risk of bias. A random-effects model was employed to calculate the standardized mean differences (SMD) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) of overall burnout and its sub-domains of burnout (i.e., emotional exhaustion, cynicism, and academic inefficacy). Of 316 records in total, nine studies (with 810 medical students) were ultimately included. The pooled analysis showed that MBIs were associated with significant small to moderate improvements for medical students’ overall burnout (SMD=-0.64; 95% CI [-1.12, -0.16]; P=0.009) in the included four RCTs, emotional exhaustion (SMD=-0.27; 95% CI [-0.50, -0.03]; P=0.03) and academic efficacy (SMD=0.43; 95% CI [0.20, 0.66]; P<0.001) in the four qRCTs. MBIs can serve as an effective approach for reducing burnout symptoms in medical students. Future high-quality studies with a larger sample size and robust randomized controlled trial methodologies should be obtained to reinforce the findings.
Almutairi, H., Alsubaiei, A., Abduljawad, S., Alshatti, A., Fekih-Romdhane, F., Husni, M., & Jahrami, H. (2022). Prevalence of burnout in medical students: A systematic review and meta-analysis. The International Journal of Social Psychiatry, 68(6), 1157–1170. https://doi.org/10.1177/00207640221106691
Oró, P., Esquerda, M., Mas, B., Viñas, J., Yuguero, O., & Pifarré, J. (2021). Effectiveness of a Mindfulness-Based Programme on Perceived Stress, Psychopathological Symptomatology and Burnout in Medical Students. Mindfulness, 12(5), 1138–1147. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-020-01582-5