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Research suggests that meditation can relieve stress, cultivate self-regulation skills, improve ability to focus, and modify risk for compassion fatigue (CF) and burnout in healthcare providers. However, studied interventions are time-consuming and combining disparate approaches, resulting in unclear mechanisms of effect. This pilot study examined a novel 6-week technology-assisted meditation program, coherently grounded in the system of yoga therapy that required minimal time. Five 10- to 12-minute meditations were offered via smartphone apps supported by biweekly e-mails. Hospice and palliative professionals at a Midwestern US healthcare network participated in the program (n = 36). Each meditation integrated attention, synchronized breath, gentle movements and a meditation focus. Weekly e-mails introduced a new meditation and reminded participants how and why to practice. The participants used the meditations a mean of 17.18(SD, 8.69) times. Paired t tests found significant presurvey to postsurvey improvements for CF/burnout (P < .05) and interoceptive awareness (P < .001). Participation significantly heightened perceived ability and propensity to direct attention to bodily sensations, increased awareness of physical sensations’ connections to emotions, and increased active body listening. The technology-assisted yoga therapy meditation program successfully motivated providers to meditate. The program required minimal time yet seemed to reduce CF/burnout and improve emotional awareness and self-regulation by heightening attention to present-moment bodily sensations.

CRADAs represent a new model of government policy based on steering, or leadership, rather than rowing, or bureaucracy, whereby the steering occurs on the basis of industry partnership and input through co-funding requirements. Cooperative Research and Development Agreements (CRADAs) between Federal R&D laboratories and private companies in the US are intended, in large part, to transfer technologies developed at Federal R&D laboratories to private companies. We surveyed the Federal laboratory and private CRADA partners involved in CRADAs at Los Alamos NationalLaboratory in New Mexico in order to identify certain difficulties inherent in CRADAs as mechanisms for technology transfer. Company partners do not share a common organizational culture with their Federal laboratory counterparts, and are critical of the length of time and complexity of government administrative arrangements necessary to form a CRADA.

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Information and communications technologies (ICT) are becoming pervasive in the residential real estate industry and affecting the work lives of real estate agents. Drawing on data from a regional study of the residential real-estate industry in the United States, we focus on the disintermediation or, more accurately, the re-intermediation of real estate agents in the sales process. We examine how real estate agents are (1) taking advantage of new ICT in their work, and (2) protecting themselves from others wishing to displace their position in the real estate value chain. Our analysis draws on two contrasting theoretical approaches to better explain the roles of agents. That is, real estate transactions are conceptualized as economic activities (buy/sell transactions) set within social structures that agents help to develop. Firstly, transaction-cost economics is used to explain the nature of a real estate transaction. From this analysis we develop a set of generic market coordination structures to profile the role of the agent in the real estate transaction process. Secondly, the concept of social capital is used to structure an analysis of ICT-induced changes to the process. Social capital is conceptualized as the set of social resources that an agent possesses that are embedded in relationships. This analysis indicates that real estate agents are using social capital and relational forms of coordination in order to protect and affirm their places within the real estate value chain. These social relationships provide structures that define both the behavior of the agent, buyer, and seller (and other contributors) and the various transactions that make up the sale of a residential property. We conclude by drawing implications for research on disintermediation and for the practices of market intermediaries.

Findings support further evaluation of a technology-mediated meditation program for professional caregivers to reduce perceived stress associated with the work environment.

(1) Background. This research examined the feasibility, acceptability and outcomes of delivering a 6-week yoga-based meditation intervention to clinical teams of hospice professionals (HPs) at a large non-profit hospice organization. The intervention was designed to increase mind-body integration and combat burnout. This article was written for different audiences, including research scientists who study interoception, burnout, meditation, or yoga, designers of meditation interventions, and hospice organizations looking for ways to mitigate HP burnout. (2) Methods. The intervention was launched within clinical teams, beginning with a half-hour online introduction to the program and exposure to the week 1 meditation at each team’s monthly all-staff meeting. Throughout the program, HPs could access the meditations on their own via their workplace computers, tablets, and smartphones. Online pre- and post-intervention surveys were submitted by 151 HPs, 76 of whom were exposed to the intervention and completed both surveys. The surveys assessed burnout using the Professional Fulfillment Index and mind-body integration using the Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness scales. (3) Results. Two-thirds of HPs who were present at a staff meeting where the program was introduced went on to do a meditation on their own at least once. Half of HPs expressed a desire to continue with access to the meditations after the 6-week program ended. Due to COVID-19 work from home restrictions, three-fourth of HPs did a meditation at home, 29% in a car between patient visits (not while driving), and 23% at the office. Higher interoceptive awareness was significantly related to lower burnout, particularly lower work exhaustion. Meditation frequency was significantly related to higher interoceptive awareness but not to burnout. Interpersonal disengagement was rare and temporary. (4) Conclusions. Findings showed that the yoga-based meditation intervention was feasible and acceptable and associated with higher interoceptive awareness. The results point to a role for interoceptive awareness in reducing the risk for burnout.

We propose a framework for understanding meditation that can support greater scientific rigor in reporting meditation research, and selecting meditation health interventions. There is no consistent and thorough framework for describing meditation research interventions. This impedes rigor of meditation research design and interpretation of findings. This also limits meaningful comparisons across research studies. The audience for this article includes researchers, meditation experts, healthcare professionals, and those with interest in meditation. The framework describes the key components of a meditation intervention. We also discuss how meditation can effect individuals differently, and provide suggestions for describing the qualifications of the expert who designed the meditations in an intervention. The meditation framework supports (1) comparing different meditation interventions, and (2) understanding how meditation interventions lead to outcomes. We provide examples from a Yoga Therapy perspective of meditation (our domain of expertise), and from published research on meditation to illustrate applications of the meditation framework. The meditation framework provides a way of characterizing meditation interventions by distinguishing seven essential components. The first four components describe the meditation session (individual, object, experience, and immediate effects).