Research Study Description

An occupational psychologist wanted to investigate interventions for work-related stress. 120 office workers who reported high levels of burnout were invited to participate in a study investigating the effectiveness of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR).

To select participants, each worker completed a standardised burnout questionnaire which rated their stress level on a scale from 1 (no burnout) to 15 (severe burnout). From this pool, 45 workers with moderate-to-high scores of 11 or 12 were selected to participate. They were randomly assigned to one of three groups:

• Condition 1 (Group MBSR): Attended 8 weekly, two-hour therapist-led MBSR group sessions.
• Condition 2 (Digital MBSR): Used a mobile app for daily 15-minute guided mindfulness exercises for 8 weeks.
• Condition 3 (Control): Placed on an 8-week waiting list for the therapist-led sessions, receiving no active intervention during this time.

One week after completing their respective 8-week periods, all participants completed the burnout questionnaire again. The scores before and after were compared to evaluate changes in burnout levels.