PMID- 38252479
OWN - NLM
STAT- MEDLINE
DCOM- 20240123
LR  - 20240210
IS  - 2368-7959 (Electronic)
IS  - 2368-7959 (Linking)
VI  - 11
DP  - 2024 Jan 22
TI  - Design and Implementation of a Brief Digital Mindfulness and Compassion Training 
      App for Health Care Professionals: Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial.
PG  - e49467
LID - 10.2196/49467 [doi]
LID - e49467
AB  - BACKGROUND: Several studies show that intense work schedules make health care 
      professionals particularly vulnerable to emotional exhaustion and burnout. 
      OBJECTIVE: In this scenario, promoting self-compassion and mindfulness may be 
      beneficial for well-being. Notably, scalable, digital app-based methods may have 
      the potential to enhance self-compassion and mindfulness in health care 
      professionals. METHODS: In this study, we designed and implemented a scalable, 
      digital app-based, brief mindfulness and compassion training program called 
      "WellMind" for health care professionals. A total of 22 adult participants 
      completed up to 60 sessions of WellMind training, 5-10 minutes in duration each, 
      over 3 months. Participants completed behavioral assessments measuring 
      self-compassion and mindfulness at baseline (preintervention), 3 months 
      (postintervention), and 6 months (follow-up). In order to control for practice 
      effects on the repeat assessments and calculate effect sizes, we also studied a 
      no-contact control group of 21 health care professionals who only completed the 
      repeated assessments but were not provided any training. Additionally, we 
      evaluated pre- and postintervention neural activity in core brain networks using 
      electroencephalography source imaging as an objective neurophysiological training 
      outcome. RESULTS: Findings showed a post- versus preintervention increase in 
      self-compassion (Cohen d=0.57; P=.007) and state-mindfulness (d=0.52; P=.02) only 
      in the WellMind training group, with improvements in self-compassion sustained at 
      follow-up (d=0.8; P=.01). Additionally, WellMind training durations correlated 
      with the magnitude of improvement in self-compassion across human participants 
      (rho=0.52; P=.01). Training-related neurophysiological results revealed plasticity 
      specific to the default mode network (DMN) that is implicated in mind-wandering 
      and rumination, with DMN network suppression selectively observed at the 
      postintervention time point in the WellMind group (d=-0.87; P=.03). We also found 
      that improvement in self-compassion was directly related to the extent of DMN 
      suppression (rho=-0.368; P=.04). CONCLUSIONS: Overall, promising behavioral and 
      neurophysiological findings from this first study demonstrate the benefits of 
      brief digital mindfulness and compassion training for health care professionals 
      and compel the scale-up of the digital intervention. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Trial 
      Registration: International Standard Randomized Controlled Trial Number Registry 
      ISRCTN94766568, https://www.isrctn.com/ISRCTN94766568.
CI  - (c)Satish Jaiswal, Suzanna R Purpura, James K Manchanda, Jason Nan, Nihal Azeez, 
      Dhakshin Ramanathan, Jyoti Mishra. Originally published in JMIR Mental Health 
      (https://mental.jmir.org), 22.01.2024.
FAU - Jaiswal, Satish
AU  - Jaiswal S
AUID- ORCID: 0000-0002-3617-1106
AD  - Department of Psychiatry, University of California San Diego, San Diego, CA, 
      United States.
FAU - Purpura, Suzanna R
AU  - Purpura SR
AUID- ORCID: 0000-0003-1553-127X
AD  - Department of Psychiatry, University of California San Diego, San Diego, CA, 
      United States.
FAU - Manchanda, James K
AU  - Manchanda JK
AUID- ORCID: 0009-0005-4580-1367
AD  - Department of Psychiatry, University of California San Diego, San Diego, CA, 
      United States.
FAU - Nan, Jason
AU  - Nan J
AUID- ORCID: 0000-0003-1644-2295
AD  - Department of Psychiatry, University of California San Diego, San Diego, CA, 
      United States.
FAU - Azeez, Nihal
AU  - Azeez N
AUID- ORCID: 0009-0002-9339-6122
AD  - Department of Psychiatry, University of California San Diego, San Diego, CA, 
      United States.
FAU - Ramanathan, Dhakshin
AU  - Ramanathan D
AUID- ORCID: 0000-0002-5212-3067
AD  - Department of Mental Health, Veterans Affairs San Diego Medical Center, San 
      Diego, CA, United States.
FAU - Mishra, Jyoti
AU  - Mishra J
AUID- ORCID: 0000-0001-6612-4557
AD  - Department of Psychiatry, University of California San Diego, San Diego, CA, 
      United States.
LA  - eng
PT  - Journal Article
PT  - Randomized Controlled Trial
DEP - 20240122
PL  - Canada
TA  - JMIR Ment Health
JT  - JMIR mental health
JID - 101658926
SB  - IM
MH  - Adult
MH  - Humans
MH  - *Mindfulness
MH  - Empathy
MH  - *Mobile Applications
MH  - Self-Compassion
MH  - Health Personnel
PMC - PMC10845023
OTO - NOTNLM
OT  - EEG
OT  - compassion
OT  - digital app
OT  - digital health
OT  - digital intervention
OT  - digital mental health
OT  - digital mindfulness
OT  - health workers
OT  - healthcare professionals
OT  - mindfulness
OT  - neuroplasticity
OT  - physicians
OT  - training
COIS- Conflicts of Interest: None declared.
EDAT- 2024/01/22 12:42
MHDA- 2024/01/23 06:43
PMCR- 2024/01/22
CRDT- 2024/01/22 11:54
PHST- 2023/05/30 00:00 [received]
PHST- 2023/12/01 00:00 [accepted]
PHST- 2023/11/09 00:00 [revised]
PHST- 2024/01/23 06:43 [medline]
PHST- 2024/01/22 12:42 [pubmed]
PHST- 2024/01/22 11:54 [entrez]
PHST- 2024/01/22 00:00 [pmc-release]
AID - v11i1e49467 [pii]
AID - 10.2196/49467 [doi]
PST - epublish
SO  - JMIR Ment Health. 2024 Jan 22;11:e49467. doi: 10.2196/49467.