Does the intervention of mindfulness reduce levels of burnout and compassion fatigue and increase resilience in pre-registration students? A pilot study

Abstract

Introduction: In the current clinical working environment it is important that therapeutic radiography students are fully prepared not just clinically but emotionally for a working professional life. Mindfulness has shown promise, as a self-care strategy, in the improvement of burnout, resilience and compassion fatigue in other professions; however, it has not been used with therapeutic radiography students.

Methods: Eight pre-registration therapeutic radiography students were recruited to undergo a five week mindfulness course; six students from the year below were recruited to act as a control arm (no mindfulness). Data was collected using a series of validated tools at baseline, week five, month three and 12 months after the start of the study: RESULTS: The MBI-SS scale demonstrated 29% of the sample experienced emotional exhaustion and 43% increased cynicism. The other tools showed a positive trend with the intervention; however, these were not statistically significant.

Conclusion: Although no statistically significant differences were demonstrated between the study arms, some interesting trends have been noted. The key finding was the identification of burnout experienced by almost a third of the study sample. This suggests that a new area of study is warranted to further investigate the factors contributing to burnout in the student population.

Keywords: Burnout; Compassion fatigue; Mindfulness; Radiotherapy students; Resilience.