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Self-Compassion in the Workplaces

Abstract

My keynote talk is based on the findings from our recent systematic review regarding self-compassion interventions for workplace wellbeing outcomes. This paper is currently accepted with minor revisions in a leading psychology journal. Self-compassion has been reported as highly relevant to wellbeing outcomes in many different populations, including employees. The importance of self-compassion in the workplaces has been increased during the COVID-19 pandemic; employees need to care for themselves in order to maintain good wellbeing, leading to long-lasting high performance. However, empirical evidence for self-compassion interventions in occupational settings has not been systematically reviewed to date. Accordingly, the primary purposes of this systematic review were to 1) synthesize and evaluate the efficacy of self-compassion interventions for employee wellbeing, and 2) assess the methodological quality of relevant studies. Research databases such as ProQuest, PsycINFO, Science Direct, and Google Scholar were used to identify relevant studies. The Newcastle-Ottawa Scale was usd to evaluate the quality of non-randomized trials, and the Quality Assessment Table was used to assess the quality of randomized controlled trials. 3,387 articles were originally retrieved, from which ten studies met all the inclusion criteria. All of the ten studies reported positive impacts of self-compassion interventions for employee wellbeing. The quality of reserach methods was medium. The participants of all ten studies were in a caring profession, and most of the studies were conducted in Western countries. The Self-Compassion Scale (SCS) or its short-form was used in almost all assessments. Findings suggest that self-compassion interventions can cultivate self-compassion and enhance other employee wellbeing outcomes in worker populations. However, overall, the quality of research methods needs to be improved in order to further appraise the applications and limitations of this approach in occupational contexts. Moreover, future studies should recruit a wider range of employee samples, including non-caring professions as well as employees working in non-Western countries. Yasuhiro Kotera

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