The Interpersonal Mindfulness Program for Health Care Professionals: a Feasibility Study
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ORIGINAL PAPER
The Interpersonal Mindfulness Program for Health Care Professionals: a Feasibility Study Agna A. Bartels-Velthuis 1,2
&
Erik van den Brink 3 & Frits Koster 1,4 & H. J. Rogier Hoenders 1
# The Author(s) 2020
Abstract Objectives There are a number of mindfulness-based programs (MBPs) that have demonstrated effectiveness for patients and health care professionals. The Interpersonal Mindfulness Program (IMP) is a relatively new MBP, developed to teach those with prior mindfulness training to deepen their mindful presence, empathy and compassion in the interpersonal domain. The aim of the present study was to examine the feasibility of using the IMP with mental health care workers and assessing its effects on levels of mindfulness, self-compassion, empathy, stress and professional quality of life when compared with the control group participants. Methods The IMP training consisted of nine weekly 2.5-h sessions and daily home practice (45–60 min). Twenty-five participants (mean age, 51.4 years) with mindfulness experience participated in the training. Twenty-two individuals in the control group (mean age, 47.5 years) were recruited from those who had followed a mindfulness training before. Feasibility of the IMP was assessed in the training participants in six domains. All study participants completed self-report questionnaires before and after the training. Results The IMP training was considered highly acceptable and very useful. The training had a significant positive effect on selfcompassion, empathy and compassion fatigue, but no effect on mindfulness, stress and compassion satisfaction. Five participants reported some mild adverse reactions. Conclusions The IMP training appears feasible for health care professionals and seems to induce some positive effects. A few mild adverse effects were reported. Further research on the effectiveness and possible mechanisms of change of the IMP training in larger samples is needed. Keywords Mindfulness . Self-compassion . Empathy . Stress . Professional quality of life
Mindfulness is now a well-established part of (mental) health care. Most (mental) health care institutions offer mindfulness
* Agna A. Bartels-Velthuis [email protected] 1
Lentis Psychiatric Institute, Center for Integrative Psychiatry, Hereweg 76, 9725 AG Groningen, the Netherlands
2
University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, University Center for Psychiatry, Rob Giel Research Center, University of Groningen, Hanzeplein 1, 9713 GZ Groningen, the Netherlands
3
MBCL Training & Therapie, Koelandsdrift 10, 9755 PN Onnen, the Netherlands
4
Trainingsbureau Mildheid & Mindfulness, Peperweg 9, 9891 AK Ezinge, the Netherlands
training to patients for various disorders (Creswell 2017; Veehof et al. 2016; West et al. 2016). The benefits of mindfulness for therapists have been recognised by a number of researchers (Hick and Bien 2008; Surrey and Kramer 2013, Wilson and Dufrene 2008). As health care workers seem to be prone to empathy fatigue already in the training phase, mi
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