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A new study suggests that a “blended” eight-week mindfulness program that adds Team Mindfulness Training (TMT) to an abbreviated version of the mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) individual mindfulness course is as effective as a standard MBSR course alone . It may even offer an additional benefit by enhancing collective stress management skills.
Led by Dr Utah Tobias Mortlock, Co-Director of the Center for Excellence in Consciousness Research (CEMR) at City, University of London, in collaboration with Dr Alison Carter, Principal Research Fellow at the Institute for Employment Studies (IES), the study bridges the gap between the established body of research supporting the benefits of individual mindfulness practice, epitomized by the eight-week MBSR course, and the burgeoning science of team and collective mindfulness. MBSR has been shown to reduce stress, anxiety, depression, and pain. Collective attention is closely related to organizational resilience.
The study was conducted in a high-stress military context: military officers in training in the British Army and the Royal Navy and was funded by the Defense Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL). A mixed method approach was used, consisting of two research phases.
Twenty-three prospective junior officers from the British Army participated in a pre-pilot study that tested the newly developed Team Mindfulness Training (TMT) intervention: half of the time was dedicated to training participants in individual stress management skills using the MBSR curriculum , with the remainder focusing on teaching collective stress management skills using the principles of collective attention.
A larger pilot study involving 105 Royal Navy officers then compared the TMT intervention with a standard eight-week MBSR course. The effect of participation in the two intervention groups was measured by assessing individual resilience, collective consciousness and individual performance. While the two former measures were self-reported, the latter was assessed using an objective computerized test of working memory as a proxy for work performance. All measures were taken at three time points: immediately before, immediately after, and two months after the intervention. Participants also participated in semi-structured interviews.
The study found that participation in both intervention groups resulted in significantly increased individual resilience and working memory, with no significant difference between the two groups.
Although neither group showed statistically significant improvements in collective consciousness over time, the TMT group experienced a near-significant increase in collective consciousness after participating in the training.
In addition, the results of the interview analyzes indicated that participants in the TMT group appeared to be more able to report that they had collectively learned to manage difficult work stress. Most notably, however, only individuals in the TMT group (and none in the MBSR group) indicated that they were able to apply their newly learned MBSR skills to stressful work challenges. This suggests that a collectively conscious team atmosphere supports the application of individual stress management skills when it really matters.
The authors suggest that the study paves the way for follow-up research that may help address recently reported counterintuitive effects of individually focused mindfulness in the workplace, such as lower work motivation after short periods of mindful meditation.
They also emphasize that this study brings back a prosocial orientation to mindfulness practice that may have been overshadowed by the more recent mindfulness-as-self-help movement. This prosocial drive is a central tenet of mindfulness traditions: generating a transformative capacity to overcome stress and suffering within oneself as well as for all.
The study’s first author, Dr Uta Tobias Mortlock, says:
Our intervention counts mindfulness as a team sport. Combining individual with collective awareness makes mindfulness training more powerful. And offering organizations mindfulness practices that extend beyond individually focused meditation helps expand the transformative potential of mindfulness for organizations.
Dr Alison Carter, principal investigator of the study and co-author of its publication, adds:
This work moves the needle from self-focused mindfulness to creating mindful workplace culture. This is both useful and practical because when people at work look out for each other, then workplace stress becomes a collective responsibility rather than something to be taken on by individuals in isolation from others. And we know that collective stress management is more effective than individual stress management.
The study was published in the open access journal, Frontiers in Psychology.
Story source:
Materials provided by City University London. Originally written by Shamim Quadir. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.
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