Other Titles
Support through Mindful Interventions
Abstract
Session presented on Sunday, March 19, 2017:
Mindfulness training methods have been employed effectively and productively in healthcare organizations to reduce stress, anxiety, emotional fatigue, depersonalization, depression, and burnout. These strategies have been beneficial for stimulating personal triumphs, self confidence, empathy, concentration, and frame of mind. Utilizing these approaches, institutions have creatively diminished employee health costs, augmented personal output, impacted job contentment, and decreased negative physiologic markers (Francis, n.d.). Individuals and organizations should undertake to tackle the uneasiness and challenges experienced by employees to ensure that the workplace is a health work environment. A West Texas acute care agency recognized a mounting concern with staff members stressed with numerous conflicting priorities, processing recurrent challenges and uncertainty in a complicated environment. As a consequence of these hardships, a choice was made to cultivate a focused mindfulness training program which could be provided to a broad diversity of agency employees to support them in developing a deliberate and suitable process in any setting they were encountering (Schaufenbuel, 2014). The program entailed various distinctive and unique components to permit the growth of a program that was user-friendly, timely, and individualized. A pilot study related to the Mindfulness Training project received institutional review board approval to conduct the project. A cohort was begun in early fall, 2016. The program utilized a six week program. Within this period, participants were provided a selection of reading, videos, and activities to complete to gain comfort and expertise with different strategies to address stress, anxiety, fatigue, depression, and burnout. For each week, the participants were compelled to participate in some form of mindfulness activity on a daily bases for a minimum of 5 minutes. Each week, the participants were provided an opportunity to debrief in regard to their journey toward mindfulness competency. During these debriefing sessions, new skills and techniques were discussed and demonstrated along with opportunities to discuss the integration of these skills and techniques into the regular work environment. By providing resources, strategies, and debriefing, the health care environment assumed a more positive, supportive atmosphere. This session will provide an overview of the process used to develop the Mindfulness Program. Participants will be able to discuss strategies that worked with in this setting along with barriers and challenges encountered which allowed for the evolution of the program. This session will offer ideas for the participants to engage in their own settings with like-minded individuals. Recommendations for assessing the environment will be provided. The presenters will providing suggestions to be used to develop a program in other settings. Learning Objectives: The learner will be able to identify strategies for assisting health care providers to address stress and anxiety within the work setting. The learner will be able to discuss the challenges, barriers, and avenues encountered within the work setting which can impact a healthy work environment.
Sigma Membership
Iota Mu
Lead Author Affiliation
Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, Odessa, Texas, USA
Type
Presentation
Format Type
Text-based Document
Study Design/Type
N/A
Research Approach
N/A
Keywords:
Mindfulness Training, Compassion Fatigue, Program Development
Recommended Citation
Boswell, Carol; Tully, Jessica; and Mills, Teresa, "Mindfulness training: Building a supportive environment" (2017). Creating Healthy Work Environments Event Materials. 58.
https://www.sigmarepository.org/chwe/2017/presentations_2017/58
Conference Name
Creating Healthy Work Environments 2017
Conference Host
Sigma Theta Tau International
Conference Location
Indianapolis, Indiana, USA
Conference Year
2017
Rights Holder
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All permission requests should be directed accordingly and not to the Sigma Repository.
All submitting authors or publishers have affirmed that when using material in their work where they do not own copyright, they have obtained permission of the copyright holder prior to submission and the rights holder has been acknowledged as necessary.
Review Type
Abstract Review Only: Reviewed by Event Host
Acquisition
Proxy-submission
Mindfulness training: Building a supportive environment
Indianapolis, Indiana, USA
Session presented on Sunday, March 19, 2017:
Mindfulness training methods have been employed effectively and productively in healthcare organizations to reduce stress, anxiety, emotional fatigue, depersonalization, depression, and burnout. These strategies have been beneficial for stimulating personal triumphs, self confidence, empathy, concentration, and frame of mind. Utilizing these approaches, institutions have creatively diminished employee health costs, augmented personal output, impacted job contentment, and decreased negative physiologic markers (Francis, n.d.). Individuals and organizations should undertake to tackle the uneasiness and challenges experienced by employees to ensure that the workplace is a health work environment. A West Texas acute care agency recognized a mounting concern with staff members stressed with numerous conflicting priorities, processing recurrent challenges and uncertainty in a complicated environment. As a consequence of these hardships, a choice was made to cultivate a focused mindfulness training program which could be provided to a broad diversity of agency employees to support them in developing a deliberate and suitable process in any setting they were encountering (Schaufenbuel, 2014). The program entailed various distinctive and unique components to permit the growth of a program that was user-friendly, timely, and individualized. A pilot study related to the Mindfulness Training project received institutional review board approval to conduct the project. A cohort was begun in early fall, 2016. The program utilized a six week program. Within this period, participants were provided a selection of reading, videos, and activities to complete to gain comfort and expertise with different strategies to address stress, anxiety, fatigue, depression, and burnout. For each week, the participants were compelled to participate in some form of mindfulness activity on a daily bases for a minimum of 5 minutes. Each week, the participants were provided an opportunity to debrief in regard to their journey toward mindfulness competency. During these debriefing sessions, new skills and techniques were discussed and demonstrated along with opportunities to discuss the integration of these skills and techniques into the regular work environment. By providing resources, strategies, and debriefing, the health care environment assumed a more positive, supportive atmosphere. This session will provide an overview of the process used to develop the Mindfulness Program. Participants will be able to discuss strategies that worked with in this setting along with barriers and challenges encountered which allowed for the evolution of the program. This session will offer ideas for the participants to engage in their own settings with like-minded individuals. Recommendations for assessing the environment will be provided. The presenters will providing suggestions to be used to develop a program in other settings. Learning Objectives: The learner will be able to identify strategies for assisting health care providers to address stress and anxiety within the work setting. The learner will be able to discuss the challenges, barriers, and avenues encountered within the work setting which can impact a healthy work environment.