Mindfulness-Based Interventions: Combatting Burnout and Compassionate Fatigue among Mental Health Caregivers

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this quality improvement project was to educate mental health caregivers on the symptoms and risk factors of compassion fatigue and burnout while raising awareness about mindfulness-based interventions and how they can be used to combat these symptoms. The goal was to increase intent to implement mindfulness-based interventions daily and identify barriers to implementation. Methods Educational information was presented in a synchronous presentation to all voluntary participants. Instructions on how to perform the body scan technique and mindfulness breathing were provided, and participants were guided through an experiential mindfulness breathing exercise. Knowledge level was tracked with a pretest and posttest. The posttest also included a Likert scale that measured intent to implement mindfulness-based interventions. Completion of a follow-up survey was requested two weeks post-intervention to assess if increased knowledge on compassion fatigue, burnout, and mindfulness-based interventions encouraged caregivers to implement mindfulness-based interventions, the frequency of practice, and identified barriers. No responses were gathered from the follow-up survey. Results After the evidence-based educational presentation on compassion fatigue, burnout, and mindfulness-based interventions, the mean tests score showed improvement from the pretest to the posttest; this can be seen by the 9% increase in the mean score and the 12% increase in the median score. The paired t-test in each category found p-values greater than 0.05, establishing 11 the findings as statistically insignificant. The mean score on the pretest was 87%; the mean score on the posttest was 96%. Three of the participants (n=4) rated their likelihood to implement mindfulness-based interventions as “very likely” on the Likert scale, and one participant rated their likelihood for implementation as “somewhat likely.” Conclusions Findings from this evidence-based presentation were improved knowledge of compassion fatigue, burnout, and MBIs as demonstrated by an increase in scores from the pretest as compared to the posttest. This intervention provides a practical way to increase knowledge of the importance of the chosen topics while encouraging self-implementation.