[Reducing stress levels and anxiety in primary-care physicians through training and practice of a mindfulness meditation technique].

PURPOSE

To check the effectiveness of a mindfulness development meditation technique on stress and anxiety in a group of primary-care physicians.

DESIGN

Quasi-experimental with pretest/posttest/follow-up measurements in a control group and an experimental group. SITE: University of Almeria.

PARTICIPANTS

38 primary-care physicians enrolled in a Teaching Aptitude Course (CAP).

INTERVENTION

An experimental group and a control group were formed with 19 participants in each. The experimental group took a psycho-educational meditation program for training and practice in mindfulness.

MEASUREMENT

The Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), the Strain Questionnaire and the State-Trait Anxiety Questionnaire were used to measure stress and anxiety levels.

RESULTS

A comparative statistical analysis was performed using the Mann-Whitney non-parametric U test, finding a significant reduction in all the primary-care physician stress and anxiety variables in the experimental group compared to the control group in pretest-posttest and follow-up tests.

CONCLUSIONS

The results of this study support the effectiveness of mindfulness development meditation techniques in decreasing stress and anxiety in primary-care physicians. Nevertheless, the study shows various limitations that would have to be corrected in successive studies to bring more validity to the results.