The effect of mindfulness interventions on stress in medical students: A systematic review and meta-analysis.
<h4>Background</h4>Medical students have high levels of stress, which is associated with higher incidents of burnout, depression, and suicide compared to age-matched peers. Mindfulness practices have been shown to reduce stress among medical students.<h4>Purpose</h4>The purpo...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2023-01-01
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| Series: | PLoS ONE |
| Online Access: | https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0286387&type=printable |
| _version_ | 1797662158100627456 |
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| author | Edie L Sperling Jennifer M Hulett LeeAnne B Sherwin Sarah Thompson B Ann Bettencourt |
| author_facet | Edie L Sperling Jennifer M Hulett LeeAnne B Sherwin Sarah Thompson B Ann Bettencourt |
| author_sort | Edie L Sperling |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | <h4>Background</h4>Medical students have high levels of stress, which is associated with higher incidents of burnout, depression, and suicide compared to age-matched peers. Mindfulness practices have been shown to reduce stress among medical students.<h4>Purpose</h4>The purpose of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to examine if mindfulness interventions have an overall effect on stress outcomes in the high-stress population of medical students globally, particularly given the wide variety of interventions. Any intervention designed to promote mindfulness was included.<h4>Methods</h4>A comprehensive literature search was completed to include multiple databases, ancestry, and hand-searching and 35 studies were included. Standardized mean difference effect sizes (ES) were synthesized across studies using a random-effects model for changes in stress levels in medical students ≥ 18. Moderator analyses were performed to explore variations in effects by participant and intervention characteristics.<h4>Results</h4>Mindfulness interventions significantly improved stress among medical students in both the two-arm studies (d = 0.370, k = 19, n = 2,199, 95% CI 0.239-0.501, p < .001) and one-arm pre-post studies (d = 0.291, k = 30, n = 18 (two cohorts from Dyrbye et al), 95% CI 0.127-0.455, p = 0.001). Moderator analyses found trends in less hours and less required practice resulted in better improvement in stress.<h4>Conclusions</h4>This study further confirms that despite a wide variety of mindfulness interventions for medical students around the world, they produce an overall small-to-moderate effect on stress reduction. Future research looking at the most effective protocols for high-stress medical students would be beneficial. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T18:56:05Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-e918f2fead944ffa9544158488d08f90 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1932-6203 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T18:56:05Z |
| publishDate | 2023-01-01 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PLoS ONE |
| spelling | doaj.art-e918f2fead944ffa9544158488d08f902023-10-11T05:31:45ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032023-01-011810e028638710.1371/journal.pone.0286387The effect of mindfulness interventions on stress in medical students: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Edie L SperlingJennifer M HulettLeeAnne B SherwinSarah ThompsonB Ann Bettencourt<h4>Background</h4>Medical students have high levels of stress, which is associated with higher incidents of burnout, depression, and suicide compared to age-matched peers. Mindfulness practices have been shown to reduce stress among medical students.<h4>Purpose</h4>The purpose of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to examine if mindfulness interventions have an overall effect on stress outcomes in the high-stress population of medical students globally, particularly given the wide variety of interventions. Any intervention designed to promote mindfulness was included.<h4>Methods</h4>A comprehensive literature search was completed to include multiple databases, ancestry, and hand-searching and 35 studies were included. Standardized mean difference effect sizes (ES) were synthesized across studies using a random-effects model for changes in stress levels in medical students ≥ 18. Moderator analyses were performed to explore variations in effects by participant and intervention characteristics.<h4>Results</h4>Mindfulness interventions significantly improved stress among medical students in both the two-arm studies (d = 0.370, k = 19, n = 2,199, 95% CI 0.239-0.501, p < .001) and one-arm pre-post studies (d = 0.291, k = 30, n = 18 (two cohorts from Dyrbye et al), 95% CI 0.127-0.455, p = 0.001). Moderator analyses found trends in less hours and less required practice resulted in better improvement in stress.<h4>Conclusions</h4>This study further confirms that despite a wide variety of mindfulness interventions for medical students around the world, they produce an overall small-to-moderate effect on stress reduction. Future research looking at the most effective protocols for high-stress medical students would be beneficial.https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0286387&type=printable |
| spellingShingle | Edie L Sperling Jennifer M Hulett LeeAnne B Sherwin Sarah Thompson B Ann Bettencourt The effect of mindfulness interventions on stress in medical students: A systematic review and meta-analysis. PLoS ONE |
| title | The effect of mindfulness interventions on stress in medical students: A systematic review and meta-analysis. |
| title_full | The effect of mindfulness interventions on stress in medical students: A systematic review and meta-analysis. |
| title_fullStr | The effect of mindfulness interventions on stress in medical students: A systematic review and meta-analysis. |
| title_full_unstemmed | The effect of mindfulness interventions on stress in medical students: A systematic review and meta-analysis. |
| title_short | The effect of mindfulness interventions on stress in medical students: A systematic review and meta-analysis. |
| title_sort | effect of mindfulness interventions on stress in medical students a systematic review and meta analysis |
| url | https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0286387&type=printable |
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