Mindfulness in the workplace

The topic of mindfulness is increasingly finding its way into the world of work. Mindfulness is often understood as "intentionally focussing attention on the present moment without judgement" (Kabat-Zinn 2010). We have investigated the effects that different forms of mindfulness training can have in the work context. Due to different definitions of mindfulness concepts and a variety of parameters examined in the literature, most of which are based on the subjective responses of participants in these training programmes, analysing their effectiveness is complex. Our work provides an overview of what can be categorised as mindfulness techniques, which methods, focal points and objectives are used to research mindfulness in everyday working life, and which methods can have a concrete influence on which factors and how.

Systematic review: The various mindfulness interventions were categorised into eight groups on the basis of an extensive literature search, which yielded around 100 relevant methodologically high-quality studies (RCTs) on the topic. Half of these were divided into mindfulness-based methods(MBSR courses, modified MBSR courses, meditation courses and other mindfulness-based methods) and half into mindfulness-informed methods (breathing training, ACT-based programmes, movement-oriented programmes and multimodal programmes).