Abstract

Health disparities in low-resource communities lead to poor physical and mental health outcomes. To reduce health disparities, the United States has looked to global health initiative and is starting to rely on lay health workers more consistently as a promising and sustainable force. Community Health Worker (CHWs) work alongside the local health care system to connect vulnerable populations to needed care. However, the demand of their role puts CHWs at risk for stress, burnout, and vicarious trauma. Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) is a stress reduction intervention that has been empirically supported to reduce stress and burnout in numerous populations. To support CHWs, this study aims to evaluate a six-week, live, online, low-dose MBSR (MBSR-ld) training to help reduce stress and burnout. Findings supported hypotheses, such that participants identified mindfulness skills were feasible, appropriate, and acceptable for their work. Furthermore, Levels of perceived stress were statistically significantly less after receiving the intervention and at 3-months and 6-months followup. Participants who reported increased use of mindfulness, also reported decreased symptoms of burnout. These findings provide valuable information that may drive policy and training to support CHWs and other lay health workforces. This study is the first to explore a live online MBSR-ld intervention to reduce stress and burnout among Community Health Workers serving a critically under resourced region in the United States.

Keywords: mindfulness intervention, community health workers, paraprofessionals, stress and burnout, mental health, underserved communities

LLU Discipline

Clinical Psychology

Department

Clinical Psychology

School

School of Behavioral Health

First Advisor

Maya M. Boustani

Second Advisor

Susanne B. Montgomery

Third Advisor

Cameron Neece

Fourth Advisor

Nicolino S. Rizzo

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Degree Level

Ph.D.

Year Degree Awarded

2025

Date (Title Page)

6-2025

Language

English

Library of Congress/MESH Subject Headings

Community health workers; Mindfulness-based stress reduction; Burnout (Psychology); Stress (Psychology); Mental health services--Access

Type

Dissertation

Page Count

xi, 104 p.

Digital Format

PDF

Digital Publisher

Loma Linda University Libraries

Usage Rights

This title appears here courtesy of the author, who has granted Loma Linda University a limited, non-exclusive right to make this publication available to the public. The author retains all other copyrights.

Collection

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Collection Website

http://scholarsrepository.llu.edu/etd/

Repository

Loma Linda University. Del E. Webb Memorial Library. University Archives

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