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Research Update

October 28, 2021 by hw8w@virginia.edu

Online Mindfulness Training Increases Well-Being, Emotional Intelligence, and Workplace Competency Ratings

Researchers in Canada conducted a randomized waitlist-controlled trial to assess the impact of a mindfulness-based training program on well-being, emotional intelligence and workplace competency.  The study subjects were fulltime employees at a Fortune 100 company. Baseline measures were collected in both the intervention and control groups. The intervention was an 8-week online mindfulness program based on Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction.  The intervention group (N = 37) showed significant increases in resilience and positive mood and decreases in stress and negative mood. The control group (N = 65) showed decreases in resilience and increases in negative mood.  Following the mindfulness intervention, participants reported increases in mindfulness and increases on all emotional intelligence facets with the exception of empathy. The control group had no positive changes in these variables.  Finally, both self and colleague ratings of workplace competencies in the intervention group showed that mindfulness training enhanced performance on leadership competencies, including those related to decisiveness and creativity. The authors concluded that this online-based mindfulness training program can enhance well-being, self-perceptions of emotional intelligence, and workplace performance.

Nadler R, Carswell J, Minda JP. Frontiers in Psychology. 11:255, 2020.

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