Mindfulness partially reduced the link between a stressful organizational culture and depression among Korean physical therapists during the COVID-19 pandemic. In a survey of 280 physical therapists, mindfulness acted as a personal resource within the Job Demands-Resources model, moderating the indirect effect of organizational culture on depression through job and interpersonal demands. The conditional indirect effect of mindfulness was statistically significant, but its impact on interpersonal stress differed from what was expected. The findings suggest mindfulness may help buffer the influence of organizational culture on depression, though its effectiveness varied by type of demand.
A systematic review of two randomized controlled trials found no strong evidence that mindfulness-based practices produce lasting, meaningful improvements in mental health for workers diagnosed with mental health conditions. In one trial, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) alone led to a marginal improvement in depression scores (standardized mean difference: -0.06) but worse anxiety scores (0.15) at 9 months; combining ACT with a workplace dialogue intervention showed no statistically significant changes. The other trial found no significant difference between mindfulness-based cognitive therapy and cognitive behavioral therapy. Heterogeneity across studies prevented a combined meta-analysis.