Journal of Oriental Neuropsychiatry (동의신경정신과학회지)

The Korean Society of Oriental Neuropsychiatry (대한한방신경정신과학회)
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Mindfulness Meditation Combined with Digital Health for Medical Personnel at a Korean Medicine Hospital in South Korea: A Case Series

  • Chan-Young Kwon (Department of Oriental Neuropsychiatry, College of Korean Medicine, Dong-eui University)
  • Received : 2023.11.28
  • Accepted : 2023.12.13
  • Published : 2023.12.30
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Abstract

Objectives: Medical personnel are professionals subject to stressful situations and psychological distress. This case series reports the results of a mindfulness meditation program combined with digital health for medical personnel at a Korean medicine (KM) hospital. Methods: An online mindfulness program was implemented in 2022 to improve the mental health of nursing staff in a KM clinic. The online mindfulness program, which was supplemented based on previous results and limitations, was applied to KM doctors and nurses working at a KM hospital in this case series. An important difference from the existing case series was the introduction of a smartphone application that promoted the daily routine of meditation. A total of 7 medical personnel, including 4 doctors and 3 nurses, participated in the program. Results: After participating in the program, an increase in deep acting and a decrease in surface acting, which are aspects of emotional labor, were consistent with the results of a previous case series. However, the patterns of change in burnout and hwa-byung symptoms differed depending on the occupation of the participants. Participants' satisfaction with this program and the smartphone application and willingness to recommend it to colleagues were high. Conclusions: As this study was only a small case series, the author plans to continue to expand and improve the program based on the findings.

Keywords

Acknowledgement

This research was supported by the MSIT (Ministry of Science and ICT), Korea, under the Grand Information Technology Research Center support program (IITP-2023-2020-0-01791) supervised by the IITP (Institute for Information & communications Technology Planning & Evaluation) and a grant of the Korea Health Technology R&D Project through the Korea Health Industry Development Institute (KHIDI), funded by the Ministry of Health & Welfare, Republic of Korea (grant number: HI23C1403).

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