Resumen
Social workers’ level of stress and burnout are among the highest within the helping professions. The aim of the current study was to test the effectiveness of an 8 weeks online Mindfulness-based intervention (MBI) on social workers’ perceived stress, burnout, coping, resilience, mental wellbeing, mindfulness and professional quality of life.An online 8 weeks MBI among 28 registered social workers from Romania was carried out between March-May 2023., as part of a randomized controlled trial. Paired Samples t-Tests compared pre-post intervention for variables of interest.\ The highest impact of MBI was on burnout (work-related burnout\ (M=42.19\ vs.\ M=33.33, p=0.003, 0.53 effect size,\ Cohen’s d 0.62,\ personal burnout (M=47,53\ vs.\ M=37,80, p=0.008, 0.49 effect size; Cohen’s d 0.552, client-related burnout (M=27.77 vs. M=20.06, p=0,016, 0,45 effect size; Cohen’s d 0,495.), perceived stress\ (M=0,4024\ –\ vs. M=0,3028 p=0,006, 0.50 effect size; Cohen’s d 0.570),\ resilience\ (perception-of-self dimension (M = 24.85\ vs.\ M = 26.37), p=0.006, 0.50 effect size,\ Cohen’s d -0.573,\
perception of the future (M = 16.59 vs. M\ = 17.70, p=0.010, 0.48 effect size; Cohen’s d -0,539 and\ social competence, (M=24.11 vs. M=25.85, p=0.029, 0.41 effect size; Cohen’s d -0.444.),\ wellbeing (M=27,75\ vs.\ M=29,10, t(27)= -2.718, p=.011, with 0,46 effect size; Cohen’s d -0,514), Professional Quality of Life (Compassion fatigue (M=22,25, vs. M=19,33, p = 0.036, 0.39 effect size; Cohen’s d 0,425) and Compassion satisfaction (M=40.85 vs. M=43.03, p = 0.031, 0.40 effect size; Cohen’s d -0,440). No statistically significant changes were recorded for coping, mindfulness and some dimensions of resilience.\ Online MBI are effective in reducing burnout, stress, compassion fatigue and increasing mental wellbeing, resilience and compassion satisfaction, but not on coping. MBI could be expanded to alleviate the negative impact of work-related stress and burnout on social workers’ mental health, but also to improve their resilience and wellbeing.
Palabras Clave (separar con comas)
mindfulness-based intervention, online, stress, burnout, randomised controlled trial, social workers, mental wellbeing