How to enhance the well-being of healthcare service providers and their patients? A mindfulness proposal

Citation: Sirgy MJ and Jackson PA (2015) How to enhance the well-being of healthcare service providers and their patients? A mindfulness proposal. The notion of mindfulness is key to developing ideas that can address how healthcare service providers (e.g., clinicians) can effectively enhance their own well-being in the workplace, and by doing so, increase the well-being of their patients. The seminal definition of mindfulness is " paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment, and nonjudgmentally " (Kabat-Zinn, 1994, p. 4). Linehan (1993) argued that mindfulness involves six skills: three skills involve what the person is doing (observing, describing, and participating) and three skills relate to how the person is doing (non-judgmentally, focused attention, and performance quality). Another way to illustrate mindfulness is to make reference to its opposite: lack of awareness about current experience and a preoccupation with the past (rumination) or the future (worry). Therefore, mindfulness is both a skill and a way of being that can be cultivated through mindful meditation practices— formal practices such as sitting meditation or yoga, and informal practices such as eating, walking, and driving meditation. Research has found that meditation practice of any sort may result in increased mindfulness (Tanner et al., 2009). Medical science has amassed much evidence that demonstrates the salutary effects of mindfulness on physical health (e.g., Keyworth et al., 2014). Also, recent reviews of the literature support the benefits of mindfulness practices to well-being (e.g., Brown et al., 2007; Galante et al., 2014). We propose that a formal program be developed to provide clinicians and other healthcare service providers with structured training in mindfulness/meditation techniques, possibly during their initial education, but definitely during continuing education opportunities. For decades, theorists have proposed that meditation practice may have a positive impact on the healthcare service provider resulting in a stronger working alliance with patients (e.g., Shapiro and Carl-son, 2009). Given the evidence of mindfulness-based interventions for patients (e.g., Seagal et al., 2002), researchers have begun to explore the impact of similar interventions on healthcare service providers (e.g., Greason and Cashwell, 2009). Based on a review of the research literature on counselor wellness, Cashwell et al. (2007) suggested that mindfulness practice may be beneficial for the therapist. The benefits included enhanced attention and concentration, expanded affect tolerance and acceptance, greater self-awareness and empathy, greater effectiveness in counseling , and greater therapist well-being. Bond et al. (2013) found …