• Marisa Dharmawardene, Jane Givens, Amy Wachholtz, Suzana Makowski, and Jennifer Tjia.
• Division of Palliative Medicine, University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
• BMJ Support Palliat Care. 2016 Jun 1; 6 (2): 160-9.

BackgroundBurnout, stress and anxiety have been identified as areas of concern for informal caregivers and health professionals, particularly in the palliative setting. Meditative interventions are gaining acceptance as tools to improve well-being in a variety of clinical contexts, however, their effectiveness as an intervention for caregivers remains unknown.AimTo explore the effect of meditative interventions on physical and emotional markers of well-being as well as job satisfaction and burnout among informal caregivers and health professionals.DesignSystematic review of randomised clinical trials and pre-post intervention studies with meditative interventions for caregivers.Data SourcesPubMed, EMBASE, CINAHL and PsycINFO were searched up to November 2013. Of 1561 abstracts returned, 68 studies were examined in full text with 27 eligible for systematic review.ResultsControlled trials of informal caregivers showed statistically significant improvement in depression (effect size 0.49 (95% CI 0.24 to 0.75)), anxiety (effect size 0.53 (95% CI 0.06 to 0.99)), stress (effect size 0.49 (95% CI 0.21 to 0.77)) and self-efficacy (effect size 0.86 (95% CI 0.5 to 1.23)), at an average of 8 weeks following intervention initiation. Controlled trials of health professionals showed improved emotional exhaustion (effect size 0.37 (95% CI 0.04 to 0.70)), personal accomplishment (effect size 1.18 (95% CI 0.10 to 2.25)) and life satisfaction (effect size 0.48 (95% CI 0.15 to 0.81)) at an average of 8 weeks following intervention initiation.ConclusionsMeditation provides a small to moderate benefit for informal caregivers and health professionals for stress reduction, but more research is required to establish effects on burnout and caregiver burden.Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/

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