Abstract
Students in health professions often face high levels of stress due to demanding academic schedules, heavy workloads, disrupted work–life balance, and sleep deprivation. Addressing stress during their education can prevent negative consequences for their mental health and the well-being of their future patients. Previous reviews on the effectiveness of mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) focused on working health professionals or included a wide range of intervention types and durations. This study aims to investigate the effect of 6- to 12-week MBIs with 1- to 2-h weekly sessions on stress in future health professionals. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials published in English by searching Embase, Medline, Web of Science, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, and PsycINFO. We used post-intervention stress levels and standard deviations to assess the ability of MBIs to reduce stress, summarized by the standardized mean difference (SMD). This review is reported according to the PRISMA checklist (2020). We identified 2932 studies, of which 11 were included in the systematic review and 10 had sufficient data for inclusion in the meta-analysis. The overall effect of MBIs on reducing stress was a SMD of 0.60 (95% CI [0.27, 0.94]). Our study provides evidence that MBIs have a moderate reducing effect on stress in students in health professions; however, given the high risk of bias, these findings should be interpreted with caution, and further high-quality studies are needed.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 765-792 |
| Number of pages | 28 |
| Journal | Applied Psychology: Health and Well-Being |
| Volume | 16 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| Early online date | 1 Aug 2023 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - May 2024 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:This study was conducted as part of the DEcrease STress through RESilience training for Students (DESTRESS) Study. The DESTRESS study is funded by the Erasmus University Medical Center Rotterdam from the budget for quality improvement (“Studievoorschotmiddelen”) as an intervention to promote student well‐being. Project token: ProjectSVM 108332. Erasmus MC, Department of Education, PO Box 2040, 3000 CA Rotterdam, The Netherlands. This funding source had no role in the design of this study and will not have any role in its execution, analyses, interpretation of the data, or decision to submit results. Funding information
Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 The Authors. Applied Psychology: Health and Well-Being published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of International Association of Applied Psychology.
