Mindfulness based emotional intelligence training to reduce emotional vulnerability for medical students

Abstract

Background The present paper investigates the impact of a mindfulness-based intervention, focused on psychological flexibility and emotional intelligence, in a sample of medical students. Methods The assessed variables were psychological flexibility, emotional intelligence, dysregulation, and distress (depression, anxiety and stress symptoms). The applied intervention was Mindfulness Based Emotional Intelligence Training (Ciarrochi, 2007). Results and discussions The intervention showed medium to high size effect for all the measured variables. Implications for prevention of pathologies implying emotional dysregulation and psychological distress for medical students are presented. Conclusion The results of the current research advocates the inclusion of this type of brief intervention into curriculum for medical students, which are at risk for burnout and psychological distress. The current research is part of doctoral research of the first author (no TRN is available) and the research integrity and ethics were ensured by Cluj-Napoca Cognitive Psychology Doctoral School and approved by the ethics committee Scientific Council of Babes-Bolyai University Cluj-Napoca, Nr. 5769/13/04/2018.