Investigating the impact of modified mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) program on occupational burnout and other mental health status among nonmedical staff in a hospital: a randomized controlled trial.

OBJECTIVE: Burnout is a prolonged psychological response to a longstanding interpersonal stressor at work. It can progress to other mental illnesses, such as anxiety and depression. In today's society, burnout has become widespread, and it is currently a serious challenge in health systems. This study intended to investigate the impact of mindfulness training on burnout and depression, anxiety, and stress of nonmedical staff in a hospital in Shiraz-Iran. METHOD: Fifty nonmedical staff in a Shiraz-Iran hospital were enrolled in this two groups' randomized controlled trial. The intervention group was trained by a modified mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) program, and the control group received no intervention. The outcome was assessed by the Copenhagen burnout inventory (CBI) and DASS-21 questionnaire on three occasions including before T0, immediately after T1, and 3 months after the intervention T2. RESULTS: Comparing the score changes between intervention and control groups showed that the reduction of work­distaste­related burnout, client­related burnout, anxiety, and stress scores in the intervention group was significantly more than in the control group in the time interval from T0 to T1. The scores in the intervention group in three subscales of CBI, including work­characteristic­related burnout, work­distaste­related burnout, and client­related burnout, decreased significantly immediately after the training (T1) compared to before (T0). Also, the scores did not change significantly after 3 months following training. CONCLUSIONS: Mindfulness training can be used as an effective way to improve occupational burnout, anxiety, and stress in occupations other than health professionals. Its effect is stable for at least a few months. It is recommended that future studies focus on investigating the feasible way to integrate this training into the working environment. Forthcoming studies should also determine whether the impact of this intervention will last longer and find possible ways to extend its influence.

Comparing the effects of SMS-based education with group-based education and control group on diabetes management: a randomized educational program.

BACKGROUND: The high prevalence of diabetes and the importance of long-term follow-up of these patients encourage finding an inexpensive and applicable educational method to control the disease. Distance education based on mobile technology and Short message service (SMS) can be an effective way to manage this disease by eliminating time and place limitations. Due to the world's high penetration rate, SMS is one of the best ways to transfer information and health education. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to compare the effect of SMS- and group-based education in managing diabetes type 2 and compare them with a control group. METHOD: A total of 168 patients with diabetes type 2 under the coverage of three family physician clinics were randomly allocated into three groups. The education was conducted in 12 one-hour sessions once a week in the group-based arm, and a daily short message was sent to the participants in the SMS group. The control group also underwent routine care at the family physician clinic. The duration of the education was 3 months. At baseline and 3 months later, fasting blood sugar (FBS), 2 hours postprandial sugar (2hppBS), and HBA1c, as well as diabetes self-management questionnaire score (DSMQ), were measured. RESULTS: The comparison of the three groups in terms of changes in FBS (P-value: 0.001), 2hppBS (8 P-value: < 0.001) and HbA1c (P-value: < 0.001) were significantly different after 3 months. In pairwise analysis, 2hppBS was the only significantly different parameter between the group- and SMS-based education (P-value: 0.035). CONCLUSION: Although the effect of both educational methods via SMS or group education was better than the control group in controlling diabetes, these two methods were not statistically different. Due to spending a lot of time and money on group-based education, it is better to replace it with education by SMS.