Key takeaways:
- A lower proportion of women in the meditation vs. control group had moderate to severe anxiety symptoms at 3 months.
- The meditation group had significantly more improvement in total Maslach Burnout Index score.
SAN FRANCISCO — Women health care providers assigned to transcendental meditation vs. usual treatment had better burnout and anxiety scores at 3 months, according to data presented at the American Thoracic Society International Conference.
The practice of transcendental meditation (TM) involves silently repeating a mantra and promotes parasympathetic tone, according to the study poster.
“Given prior reports of disproportionately high burnout in the female health care workforce and the high proportion of female participants in our randomized clinical trial that took place between November 2020 and August 2021, future research are warranted towards specifically supporting women in health care,” Selina Chang, research assistant at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and Northwestern University, told Healio.
“Transcendental meditation may be considered a safe and effective strategy to mitigate chronic stress and burnout in this population,” Chang said.
Using data from a single-center, open-label, randomized clinical trial that assessed the impact of 20-minute twice daily TM vs. usual treatment (access to wellness resources) on stress at 3 months in 80 health care professionals (HCPs), Chang and colleagues carried out a secondary analysis of the women cohort (n = 66).
Notably, the HCPs in the TM group received formal instruction on how to practice TM prior to the start of the study period, according to the poster.
“Our previously published findings suggested that TM practiced over 3 months significantly reduces emotional exhaustion, insomnia and anxiety compared to the control group,” Chang said.
In the subgroup of women, the TM group included 34 HCPs (mean age, 38.7 years; 70.6% white/Caucasian; 17.6% Black/African American; 94.1% non-Hispanic), and the control group included 32 HCPs (mean age, 40.4 years; 78.1% white/Caucasian; 12.5% Black/African American; 93.8% non-Hispanic).
Researchers had HCPs complete five assessments at baseline and 3 months to measure change: the Maslach Burnout Index (MBI), the 7-item Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale (GAD-7), the 9-item Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), the Insomnia Severity Index (ISI) and the 10-item Connor Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISK-10).
When a score of 10 or higher was used to indicate moderate to severe symptoms on the GAD-7 and the PHQ-9, Chang highlighted that 30.3% of women met this threshold for anxiety at baseline and 24.2% met this threshold for depression at baseline.
“With significant levels of burnout observed at baseline, prioritizing strategies for mitigating chronic stress — rather than acute distress — may be beneficial in supporting HCPs,” Chang told Healio.
A lower proportion of women in the TM group vs. the control group had moderate to severe anxiety symptoms at 3 months (9.1% vs. 22.6%). Similarly, 12% of women practicing TM had moderate to severe symptoms of depression at 3 months, whereas a higher proportion of women in the control group had these symptoms (22.6%).
Between baseline and 3 months, the TM group had significantly more improvement in four scores vs. the control group. These scores included the:
- total MBI score (mean between-group difference, –7.03; 95% CI, –12.49 to –1.58; P = .012);
- MBI emotional exhaustion subscore (–5.93; 95% CI, –9.86 to –1.99; P = .003);
- GAD-7 score (–1.98; 95% CI, –3.8 to –0.16; P = .033); and
- ISI score (–2.11; 95% CI, –4.16 to –0.07; P = .043).
“In prior studies, TM has shown promise in reducing burnout, so the observed improvements in emotional exhaustion, insomnia and anxiety were consistent with our expectations,” Chang told Healio.
“This was a longitudinal study initiated in 2020 that primarily evaluated outcomes over a 3-month period,” Chang said. “Future research may consider longer-term follow-up, larger and more diverse cohorts, and testing more flexible or abbreviated TM training formats to enhance accessibility and engagement among HCPs.”
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For more information:
Selina Chang can be reached at selinachang2025@u.northwestern.edu.
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