Résumé
Background: residents and health care givers are at risk for developing mental health issues. Web-based mindfulness platforms have been shown to promote mental health in this population, with most of the reports using interventions lasting 8 weeks. Our aim was to test short-term efficacy of meditation sessions during one week in residents, attending physicians and medical secretaries in a French university neurology department. Methods: a total of 18 participants (7 residents, 5 attending physicians, and 6 medical secretaries) were included in this cross-over study. Median age was 34 (IQR 28-45) and 15 participants (83%) were women. Half of the participants started with one week of group meditation sessions (listening together to one free access YouTube platform mindful meditation session per workday, with a median duration of 15 minutes per session) and the other half had control sessions during the same week (15-minute walk outside the hospital building with smart phone on airplane mode, once per workday). One month later the study participants switched session types. Outcome measures were Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS) and Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), assessed before and after each meditation and control session week. In addition, participants scored both the meditation and control session week on a 1-5 scale for “unpleasant/pleasant” and “contra-productive/useful” in terms of well-being and stress reduction. Results: baseline characteristics (sex, p=0.50; age, p=0.71) and MAAS and PSS scores before the first intervention (MAAS, p=0.37; PSS, p=0.64) were similar between the group starting with meditation and the group starting with control (walking) sessions. Differences in MAAS and PSS before and after the intervention were similar between the meditation and control sessions (median difference in MAAS was +2.5 for meditation sessions and +3 for control sessions, p=0.73; median difference in PSS was -0.5 for both the meditation and control sessions, p=0.73). Pleasant and utility scores were similar between the groups (median pleasant score was 4 for both groups, p=0.73; median utility score was 4 for both groups, p=0.98). One month after the end of the study, four participants (22%) had individually revisited at least once the YouTube platform used in our study. Discussion: fee access mindful meditation sessions during one week are easy to use in daily practice and slightly increase mindfulness and decrease perceived stress on short-term although potential superiority to other activities has to be proven in studies including larger number of participants.