Annals of Behavioural Science

Effect of 'Meditation technique' on work performance and work of head of departments at a dedicated COVID-19 tertiary care hospital: A prospective, interventional, single blind, randomized control study.

Background: Mindfulness-based programs were shown to promote relaxation and improve work performance. We evaluated the effect of an indigenous meditation technique in the work performance of Heads of Departments (HODs) in our institute.

Methods: We carried out a prospective, interventional, single center, single blinded, randomized controlled, study to evaluate the effect of meditation technique on work performance and acceptability (among employees) of HODs working in a dedicated COVID-19 tertiary care hospital. We also recruited employees from each of the departments for obtaining their feedback. A validated feedback evaluation questionnaire was used for assessing the outcomes at baseline, and on days 1, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12.

Results: Twenty HODs of either gender aged between 36 years to 58 years, with at least 5 years of experience as Heads leading the respective teams were recruited. One-hundred employees aged between 21 years to 58 years reporting at least for one year reporting to those HODs were recruited. The mean (SD) feedback score of the employees in the control arm was 22.98 (7.2) while in the interventional arm, it was 21.82 (6.4) and was not statistically significant (p=0.28). On all the follow-up days, the scores were significantly higher in the interventional group compared to control arm. Similarly, in the interventional group, the scores were significantly higher on all the follow-up days compared to baseline while it was not statistically significant in the control group.

Conclusion: We observed a significant improvement in the work performance of HODs as evaluated by their respective employees through the meditation technique that consisted of breathing exercise and chanting the mantra. Studies are needed exploring the effects in different units and for long term.

Author(s): Ajay Prabhakar Sankhe, Vivekanand Shanbhag, Rajesh Kadam, Vijaykumar Gawali and Praveen Muley

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