JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Since 2019, the COVID-19 outbreak has spread around the world, and healthcare workers, as front-line workers, have faced tremendous psychological stress.

Objective:

To explore whether online mindfulness interventions continue to have a positive impact on anxiety, depression, and stress among healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods:

We searched nine databases for randomised controlled studies on the effects of online mindfulness interventions on negative emotions among healthcare workers. The methodological quality of the included studies was assessed using the Physiotherapy Evidence Database scale. The Cochrane risk of bias tool was used to assess the risk of bias. Subgroup analysis was used to look for sources of heterogeneity and to explore whether the results were the same for subgroups under different conditions. Sensitivity analysis was used to verify the stability of the pooled results. Statistical analysis was performed using Review Manager version 5.3.

Results:

Ten randomised controlled studies with 1311 participants were included. The results showed that online mindfulness interventions were effective in reducing anxiety (SMD=-0.63, 95% CI: -0.96, -0.31, P=0.0001, I2=87%), depression (SMD=-0.52, 95% CI: -0.77, -0.26, P<0.0001, I2=75%), and stress (SMD=-0.20, 95% CI: -0.35, -0.05, P=0.010, I2=58%) among healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Conclusions:

Online-based mindfulness interventions can be effective in alleviating anxiety, depression, and stress among frontline healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. During the pandemic, it is recommended that online mindfulness training be used for routine psychological interventions for frontline healthcare workers.