Improving the mental health and well-being of healthcare providers using the transcendental meditation technique during the COVID-19 pandemic: A parallel population study

Mark S Nestor; Alec Lawson; Daniel Fischer

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0265046

Improving the mental health and well-being of healthcare providers using the transcendental meditation technique during the COVID-19 pandemic: A parallel population study

PLoS One. 2023 Mar 3;18(3):e0265046. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0265046. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Mark S Nestor^{1

2}, Alec Lawson¹, Daniel Fischer¹

Affiliations

¹ Center for Clinical and Cosmetic Research, Aventura, Florida, United States of America.
² Department of Dermatology and Cutaneous Surgery, Department of Surgery, Division of Plastic Surgery, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, Florida, United States of America.

Abstract

Introduction: Frontline Healthcare provider (HCP) burnout has dramatically increased due to the COVID 19 pandemic. Hospitals are supporting wellness programs and techniques to reduce burnout including the Transcendental Meditation (TM) technique. This study evaluated the use of TM on HCP symptoms of stress, burnout and wellness.

Methods: A total of 65 HCPs at three South Florida hospitals were recruited and instructed in the TM technique which they practiced at home for 20 minutes twice a day. A parallel lifestyle as usual control group was enrolled. Validated measurement scales (Brief Symptom Inventory 18 (BSI-18), Insomnia Severity Index (ISI), Maslach Burnout Inventory-Human Services Survey [MBI-HSS (MP)] and the Warwick Edinburgh Mental Well Being Scale (WEMWBS) were administered at baseline, 2 weeks, one and three months.

Results: No significant demographic differences were seen between the 2 groups; however, some baseline scales were higher in the TM group. TM average weekly session completion rate was very high at 83%. After 2-weeks, symptoms of somatization, depression, and anxiety in the TM group had all shown near 45% reductions, while insomnia, emotional exhaustion, and well-being had improved by 33%, 16%, and 11% respectively (P = 0.02 for somatization and < .001 for all others); no significant change was noted in the LAU group. At 3-months, in the TM group, the improvement in symptoms showed a mean reduction of in anxiety, 62%, somatization, 58%, depression, 50%, insomnia, 44%, emotional exhaustion 40%, depersonalization, 42%, and improvement of well-being 18% (for all p<0.004). P-values for between-group differences in change from baseline, based upon repeated measures ANCOVA covarying for baseline measurements, showed significance for all scales at 3-months.

Conclusion: The study confirmed the reported significant and rapid benefits of the practice of TM and demonstrated its positive psychological impact on healthcare workers in a high stress setting.

Copyright: © 2023 Nestor et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

COVID-19*
Health Personnel
Humans
Meditation*
Mental Health
Pandemics
Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders*

Grants and funding

This study was conducted by the authors and the Center for Clinical and Cosmetic Research Pro Bono for the Heal the Healers initiative from the nonprofit David Lynch Foundation. Funding sources included local donations and a grant from the David Lynch Foundation which specifically funded instruction in the Transcendental Meditation Technique and the statistician. The funders had no role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish or preparation of the manuscript.