The Effect of an MBSR Course on Medical Trainee and Medical Academic Faculty Stress and Burnout

April 18, 2025 updated by: Jeffrey Zahn, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
The study team is seeking to evaluate the efficacy of the Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) course at reducing stress and burnout. This will be done through the collection of brief anonymous online surveys (the Perceived Stress Scale and the Mini Z) before the MBSR course and at 2 weeks, 6 months, and 12 months following the end of the course. Participation is completely voluntary and will not affect anyone's ability to take this course, and the course instructors will have no knowledge of who has or has not participated in the study.

Study Overview

Status

Enrolling by invitation

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

The study is a pre- and post- survey design with the 8-week MBSR course as the intervention. MBSR is an evidence-based curriculum with a greater than 40-year history, that has been taught at Mount Sinai since 2018. Study participants will be those who have voluntarily signed up to take the course in response to an email describing the course that was sent by the office of the Mount Sinai Graduate Medical Education (GME). The study participants will be separated into two groups: faculty and trainees, and the study will span approximately two weeks prior to the start of the course (9/13/2023) (the "pre-" period) and six months after the completion of the course 5/31/2024) (the "post-" period). The course will be delivered by Zoom, but the participants will be joining from all Mount Sinai locations. The MBSR course itself involves didactics (i.e., stress physiology, review of mindfulness research, mindful communication practices), group discussions based on individual experiences with the mindful practices taught in the course, and the teaching of meditation practices including sitting and moving meditation practices. Home practices are offered as guidance each week but are not required. There is no planned control group at this time.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

200

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • United States
    • New York
      • New York, New York, United States, 10029
        • Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Child
  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

- A physician in The Mount Sinai Hospital System

Exclusion Criteria:

- none

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Supportive Care
  • Allocation: Non-Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Triple

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Other: Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction course faculty participants
Faculty physicians who have chosen to take the free 8-week course are offered the opportunity to anonymously enroll in the study.
Behavioral: Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction 8-week course
The Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) 8-week course is an evidence-based curriculum that has been taught for over 40 years and is offered world-wide, teaching mindfulness skills and practices such as meditation.
Other: Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction course trainee participants
Trainee physicians who have chosen to take the free 8-week course are offered the opportunity to anonymously enroll in the study.
Behavioral: Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction 8-week course
The Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) 8-week course is an evidence-based curriculum that has been taught for over 40 years and is offered world-wide, teaching mindfulness skills and practices such as meditation.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Perceived Stress Scale (PSS)
Time Frame: Baseline and at 2 weeks, 6 months, and 12 months following the end of the course (course is 8 weeks)
The Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) is a validated 10-question survey tool that evaluates an individual's stress level. Each question is scored from 0-4 - Full scale range from 0-40, with higher score indicating higher perceived stress.
Baseline and at 2 weeks, 6 months, and 12 months following the end of the course (course is 8 weeks)

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
The "Mini Z" survey
Time Frame: Baseline and at 2 weeks, 6 months, and 12 months following the end of the course (course is 8 weeks)

The Mini Z is a validated one-question survey designed to gauge the degree of burnout an individual is experiencing.

Full score from 1-5, with higher score indicating more burnout.
Baseline and at 2 weeks, 6 months, and 12 months following the end of the course (course is 8 weeks)
Burnout questions
Time Frame: Baseline and at 2 weeks, 6 months, and 12 months following the end of the course (course is 8 weeks)
How often do you feel "burned out' by your work? How often do you feel you've become more callous toward people since you took this job? Each question is scored 0-6, with cumulate total score from 0-12. Higher score indicates more burnout.
Baseline and at 2 weeks, 6 months, and 12 months following the end of the course (course is 8 weeks)

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Jeffrey Zahn, MD, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

March 28, 2024

Primary Completion (Estimated)

December 31, 2030

Study Completion (Estimated)

December 31, 2030

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

December 10, 2024

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

December 13, 2024

First Posted (Actual)

December 16, 2024

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

April 20, 2025

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 18, 2025

Last Verified

April 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • STUDY-23-01113

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

IPD Plan Description

Surveys are filed anonymously, no identifying information of participants

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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