work and career issues

The aim of this paper was to investigate the associations between mindfulness and acceptance (MAA) skills and burnout-related ill-being at work (ILLB) after eliminating the impact of worksite (WS) and general well-being in life (WELLB) factors. The results were derived from data on employees (n = 168) of varying professional backgrounds, who experienced relatively high levels of burnout. Analyses were conducted using structural equation modelling (SEM) and the Cholesky decomposition method, since these allow for the investigation of multiple measures and multiple factors in relation to one another. In relation to ill-being at work, the analyses revealed a general MAA factor as well as a specific cognitive fusion factor. After controlling for WS factors, MAA factor shared a 38% variance and the fusion factor a 22% variance with burnout-related ILLB. The results also indicated that cognitive fusion had a strong and unique association with ILLB, even after controlling for WS factors, general well-being, and general MAA skills. Overall, these findings support the view that skills related to psychological flexibility play an important role in enhancing well-being at work.

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While interventions teaching general mindfulness and self-compassion have been effective in promoting health and participation in health behaviors, more research is needed to evaluate the effect of targeted interventions that teach participants to apply mindfulness and self-compassion to health behaviors. A sample of 24 university employees participated in a 10-week health behavior change intervention that featured psychoeducation in mindful and self-compassionate nutrition, exercise, and stress management and engagement in guided group exercise. The intervention produced significant improvements in mindfulness, self-compassion, mindful health behaviors, and some health behaviors, well-being measures, and some body composition and physical fitness measures. This program had high satisfaction and low attrition rates. These findings provide initial evidence that targeted mindfulness and self-compassion may be useful components of health behavior change interventions.

Read the whole article on the ACBS website https://contextualscience.org/article/mindfulness_and_selfcompassion_as_tools_in_health_behavior_change_an_evalua

Living according to one's personal values has implications for wellbeing, and incongruence between personal and workplace values has been associated with burnout. Using the SGP Card Sorting Task (Ciarrochi & Bailey, 2008), this study explored mental health practitioners' personal life values and personal work-related values, and their relationships with wellbeing and burnout. Congruence between life and work-related values was related to wellbeing and perceived accomplishment at work. Those whose personal values were consistent with the commonly-shared values of a caring profession experienced lower burnout and higher personal wellbeing. Successfully pursuing one's work values predicted lower burnout and greater wellbeing. Honesty, clearly defined work, competence, and meeting obligations were associated with lower burnout and higher wellbeing. Acceptance of others and helping others were associated with lower burnout. The implications for recovery-oriented practice are noted. Values clarification exercises may invigorate the sense of meaning in practitioners' work, increasing wellbeing and reducing staff burnout.

To find the full text version of this article and others (as well as download a full text .pdf.), ACBS members can visit the ScienceDirect homepage here.