IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v19y2022i19p12523-d930816.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Effects of Yoga and Mindfulness Programs on Self-Compassion in Medical Professionals during the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Intervention Study

Author

Listed:
  • Tomoko Miyoshi

    (Department of General Medicine, Graduate School of Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Okayama University, Okayama 7008558, Japan)

  • Hiromi Ida

    (Department of Pharmacy, Okayama University Hospital, Okayama 7008558, Japan)

  • Yoshito Nishimura

    (Department of General Medicine, Graduate School of Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Okayama University, Okayama 7008558, Japan
    Department of Medicine, John A. Burns School of Medicine, University of Hawai’i, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA)

  • Soichiro Ako

    (Department of General Medicine, Graduate School of Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Okayama University, Okayama 7008558, Japan)

  • Fumio Otsuka

    (Department of General Medicine, Graduate School of Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Okayama University, Okayama 7008558, Japan)

Abstract

Stress among healthcare workers (HCWs) increased during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic. We aimed to determine whether a yoga and mindfulness program could alleviate burnout and other psychological and physical distress in HCWs, and how this might affect their empathy for patients. A weekly one-hour yoga and mindfulness program was conducted for three months in 2021. Participants were 18 consenting HCWs and, the final analysis included 13 participants. They responded to online questionnaires before and after the program. We measured salivary cortisol levels before and after the program on the first and last days. Self-measured pulse rates (PRs) were taken before and after each session, which decreased significantly in both cases (before, after the first program: 72, 65 bpm, p < 0.05; before, after the last program: 75, 66, p < 0.05), but salivary cortisol levels did not change. No significant changes were observed in Patient Health Questionnaire-9, Maslach Burnout Inventory, Sense of Coherence, Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale, Self-compassion Scale, or Jefferson Scale of Empathy. However, common humanity, a subscale of self-compassion, increased significantly (before the first program: 5.6, after the last program: 6.5, p < 0.05), and over-identification decreased significantly (7.9, 6.7, p < 0.01). Yoga and mindfulness programs may help improve the sense of common humanity and reduce over-identification in HCWs.

Suggested Citation

  • Tomoko Miyoshi & Hiromi Ida & Yoshito Nishimura & Soichiro Ako & Fumio Otsuka, 2022. "Effects of Yoga and Mindfulness Programs on Self-Compassion in Medical Professionals during the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Intervention Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(19), pages 1-10, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:19:p:12523-:d:930816
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/19/12523/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/19/12523/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Yoshito Nishimura & Tomoko Miyoshi & Asuka Sato & Kou Hasegawa & Hideharu Hagiya & Yoshinori Kosaki & Fumio Otsuka, 2021. "Burnout of Healthcare Workers Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Follow-Up Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(21), pages 1-10, November.
    2. Yoshito Nishimura & Tomoko Miyoshi & Hideharu Hagiya & Yoshinori Kosaki & Fumio Otsuka, 2021. "Burnout of Healthcare Workers amid the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Japanese Cross-Sectional Survey," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(5), pages 1-8, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Katarzyna Tomaszewska & Bożena Majchrowicz & Katarzyna Snarska & Donata Telega, 2022. "Stress and Occupational Burnout of Nurses Working with COVID-19 Patients," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(19), pages 1-13, October.
    2. Yoshito Nishimura, 2022. "Primary Care, Burnout, and Patient Safety: Way to Eliminate Avoidable Harm," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(16), pages 1-3, August.
    3. Teodora Safiye & Branimir Vukčević & Medo Gutić & Ardea Milidrag & Draško Dubljanin & Jakša Dubljanin & Branimir Radmanović, 2022. "Resilience, Mentalizing and Burnout Syndrome among Healthcare Workers during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Serbia," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(11), pages 1-13, May.
    4. Caitlin A. J. Powell & John P. Butler, 2022. "The Role of Moral Distress on Physician Burnout during COVID-19," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(10), pages 1-10, May.
    5. S Vivek Anand & Yao Kang Shuy & Poay Sian Sabrina Lee & Eng Sing Lee, 2021. "One Year on: An Overview of Singapore’s Response to COVID-19—What We Did, How We Fared, How We Can Move Forward," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(17), pages 1-33, August.
    6. Ilaria Buonomo & Bruna Ferrara & Martina Pansini & Paula Benevene, 2023. "Job Satisfaction and Perceived Structural Support in Remote Working Conditions—The Role of a Sense of Community at Work," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(13), pages 1-11, June.
    7. Kathy McKay & Sarah Wayland & David Ferguson & Jane Petty & Eilis Kennedy, 2021. "“At Least until the Second Wave Comes…”: A Twitter Analysis of the NHS and COVID-19 between March and June 2020," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(8), pages 1-14, April.
    8. Yoshito Nishimura & Tomoko Miyoshi & Asuka Sato & Kou Hasegawa & Hideharu Hagiya & Yoshinori Kosaki & Fumio Otsuka, 2021. "Burnout of Healthcare Workers Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Follow-Up Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(21), pages 1-10, November.
    9. Ladislav Štěpánek & Marie Nakládalová & Magdaléna Janošíková & Romana Ulbrichtová & Viera Švihrová & Henrieta Hudečková & Eliška Sovová & Milan Sova & Jiří Vévoda, 2023. "Prevalence of Burnout in Healthcare Workers of Tertiary-Care Hospitals during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Cross-Sectional Survey from Two Central European Countries," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(4), pages 1-13, February.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:19:p:12523-:d:930816. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.