Background: In the context of increasing doctor–patient tensions in China, the objective of this study was to explore and examine the effects of loving-kindness meditation (LKM) on doctors’ mindfulness, empathy, and communication skills. Methods: A total of 106 doctors were recruited from a hospital in China, and randomly divided into an LKM training group (n = 53) and waiting control group (n = 53). The LKM training group received 8 weeks of LKM training intervention, whereas the control group received no intervention. Three major variables (mindfulness, empathy, and communication skills) were measured before (pre-test) and after (post-test) the LKM training intervention. Results: The empathy and communication skills of the LKM group were significantly improved compared with those of the control group, but the level of mindfulness did not significantly change. Conclusions: The results suggested that LKM may contribute to improving physicians’ empathy and communication skills. However, the mechanisms that underlie the effects of the LKM on mindfulness, empathy, and communication skills and other psychological constructs needs further elucidation.

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Objective: This study investigated the effects of mindfulness meditation on doctors’ mindfulness, patient safety culture, patient safety competency, and adverse events. Methods: We recruited 91 doctors from a hospital in China and randomized them to mindfulness meditation group (n = 46) and a waiting control group (n = 45). The mindfulness meditation group underwent an 8-week mindfulness meditation intervention, while the control group underwent no intervention. We measured four main variables (mindfulness, patient safety culture, patient safety competency, and adverse event) before and after the mindfulness meditation intervention. Results: In the experimental group, mindfulness, patient safety culture and patient safety competency were significantly higher compared with those of the control group. In the control group, there were no significant differences in any of the three variables between the pre-test and post-test. Adverse events in the experimental group were significantly lower than in the control group. Conclusions: The intervention of mindfulness meditation significantly improved the level of mindfulness, patient safety culture and patient safety competency. During the mindfulness meditation intervention, the rate of adverse events in the meditation group was also significantly lower than in the control group. As a simple and effective intervention, mindfulness meditation plays a positive role in improving patient safety and has certain promotional value.

Creativity is so important for social and technological development that people are eager to find an easy way to enhance it. Previous studies have shown that mindfulness has significant effects on positive affect (PA), working memory capacity, cognitive flexibility and many other aspects, which are the key to promoting creativity. However, there are few studies on the relationship between mindfulness and creativity. The mechanism between mindfulness and creativity is still uncertain. Meditation is an important method of mindfulness training, but for most people who do not have the basic training, it’s difficult to master how to get into a state of mindfulness. Animation has been shown by many studies to help improve cognition and is often used as a guiding tool. Using animation as the guiding carrier of meditation is more convenient and easier to accept. Therefore, this study adopted the intervention method of animation-guided meditation, aiming to explore: (1) the effect of animation-guided meditation on enhancing creativity; (2) the role of flow and emotion in the influence of mindfulness on creativity. We advertised recruitment through the internal network of a creative industrial park, and the final 95 eligible participants were divided into two groups: animation (n = 48) and audio (n = 47) guided meditation. The animation group was given an animated meditation intervention, and the audio group was given an audio meditation intervention, both interventions were performed 3 times a week and last for 8 weeks. Results: (1) Animation-guided meditation significantly increased participants’ mindfulness and creativity levels; Significantly reduced their cognitive load compared to audio-guided meditation. (2) Mindfulness has a significant direct effect on creativity, and significant indirect effects on creativity; Flow and PA act as the mediating variable. Conclusion: (1) Mindfulness, flow, and PA all helped to improve the subjects’ work creativity. In addition to the direct positive impact of mindfulness on creativity, mindfulness can also have an indirect positive impact on creativity through flow and PA. (2) Compared with audio, animation can significantly reduce cognitive load and help improve users’ cognitive ability, which is more suitable for the guidance materials of mindfulness meditation to enhance the effect of meditation.

Loving-kindness meditation (LKM) was first practiced by Buddhists and then developed by clinical psychologist. Previous studies on LKM have mainly focused on the impact of real person-guided meditation on depression, anxiety, and other negative psychology. During the COVID-19 pandemic, this study explored the effect and mechanism of media-guided LKM on the improvement of social presence, mindfulness, spirituality, and subjective wellbeing (SWB). From the viewpoint of positive psychology, this study compared the different media effects of animated pedagogical agent (APA)-guided LKM and audio-guided LKM. A total of 82 flight attendants were recruited from airlines; then, they were randomly assigned to two groups: APA group (41 participants) and audio group (41 participants), which both underwent an 8-week LKM training intervention. The aforementioned four main variables were measured pre and post the meditation experiment. The results indicated that both APA-guided meditation and audio-guided meditation significantly improved subjects’ spirituality and SWB. Compared with audio-guided meditation, APA-guided meditation significantly improved the subjects’ spirituality, SWB, and social presence. Audio-guided meditation has no significant effect on social presence. This study highlights APA-guided meditation has a positive effect on spirituality, SWB, and social presence, which may provide individuals with a simple and easy method to improve their mental health.

Background This study investigated the effects of the loving-kindness meditation (LKM) on employees’ mindfulness, affect, altruism and knowledge hiding. Methods In total, 100 employees were recruited from a knowledge-based enterprise in China and randomly divided into the LKM training group (n = 50) and the control group (n = 50). The LKM training group underwent LKM training for 8 weeks, while the control group did not. Seven main variables (mindfulness, altruism positive affect, negative affect, playing dumb, rationalized hiding, and evasive hiding) were measured both before (pre-test) and after (post-test) the LKM training intervention. Results The LKM intervention significantly increased participants’ altruism, and significantly reduced negative affect, playing dumb and evasive hiding, but did not significantly improve mindfulness, positive affect, and rationalized hiding. Conclusions LKM significantly improved employees’ altruism, and significantly reduce their negative affect, but did not significantly improve their mindfulness and positive affect. For knowledge hiding, LKM significantly reduced playing dumb and evasive hiding, but had no significant effect on rationalized hiding. These results further elucidate the psychological effects of LKM and suggest the possibility of reducing knowledge hiding in the workplace. Trial registration ChiCTR2200057460. Registered in Chinese Clinical Trial Registry (ChiCTR), 13 March 2022—Retrospectively registered.

Creativity and innovation are considered important measures of core competence in Taiwan for students of all levels, including nursing students. Integrating creativity with interdisciplinary teaching modules could increase creativity for nursing students; however, this has not been empirically determined. The purpose of this study was to determine if incorporating interdisciplinary teaching into a teaching for creativity module (TCM) could enhance creative thinking and creative abilities of nursing students. Students enrolled in a capstone nursing course for the development of healthcare-related products were divided into 2 groups. Both groups participated in the 18-week course; however, one group received creativity training with interdisciplinary teaching during the course, which was taught by nursing faculty who completed a TCM workshop. Students who received the interdisciplinary TCM intervention scored significantly higher than controls on measures of creative thinking. Our findings suggest a TCM program, which incorporates interdisciplinary teaching, and instruction in techniques for creativity, such as brainstorming, attribute listing, assessment matrix, and paired comparison, can stimulate divergent thinking abilities of nursing students.

This study examined the effect of participant physique on the increase in shank circumference (ISC) for the 2‐hr standing. We recruited 20 healthy male participants (10 with normal body mass index (BMI) and 10 who were overweight) and examined their ISC every 20 min under two prolonged standing conditions (static and intermittent standing). Results showed that prolonged standing types, physiques, and sustained time significantly influence the ISC. The ISC during intermittent standing (mean = 0.38 cm) was significantly lower than that observed during static standing (mean = 0.52cm). That is, 1 min of relaxation after every 20 min of standing can effectively relieve the load on the participants’ shank during standing. The normal (BMI = 21.9) group exhibited a significantly higher ISC than the overweight group (BMI = 26.5) did. This increase was also reflected in the subjective discomfort rating results. The standing type may be more dominant than the worker's physique on the lower‐limb loading when performing prolonged standing tasks.