Mindfulness Training for Stress reduction in workers at a university in the interior of São Paulo

INTERVENTION: Behavioural Blood Specimen Collection Complementary Therapies Experimental Group: 30 workers (both sexes) with a stress level equal to or above the median (23 points), measured by the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS14), carried out a Mindfulness Training program, with nine face‐to‐face meetings and eight weeks of duration. Control Group: 30 workers (both genders) with a stress level equal to or above the median (23 points), measured by the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS14), did not perform any intervention. The sample was randomized to the experimental and control groups. All subjects responded to psychometric instruments and collected biological material before and after the end of eight weeks. The intervention took place in the form of face‐to‐face group sessions, once a week for a period of eight weeks and duration of two hours, in a private room located on the University Campus (sample workplace). In addition, there was an immersion session which, which took place on a Saturday morning lasting four hours, in a larger space with the addition of natural area (trees, plants, grass, dirt floor), also located in the same university campus. The subject of the Experimental Group was instructed to perform the practices, trained in the face‐to‐face meeting, daily at home on the other days of the week. Printed and audio material was offered to assist in carrying out the practices. The intervention consisted of a total of nine sessions and was carried out by four instructors certified by Mindfulness Trainings International (MTi) to offer training in Mindfulness practices in a secular context. It was necessary to carry out seven different groups for the completion of the study, with five groups performed for data collection and two groups offered after the collection, to participants in the Control Group. Other Psychometrics CONDITION: Mindfulness Occupational Health Stress, Physiological Stress, Physiological; Stress, Psychological; Mindfulness; Occupational Health ; Stress, Physiological ; Stress, Psychological ; Mindfulness ; Occupational Health Stress, Psychological PRIMARY OUTCOME: Decreased Perceived Stress score assessed by the Perceived Stress Scale after eight weeks of intervention Decreased Physiological Stress assessed by blood testing of stress biomarkers SECONDARY OUTCOME: Decrease Anxiety Score assessed by Beck Anxiety Inventory after eight weeks of intervention Decrease in Depression score assessed by Beck Depression Inventory after eight weeks of intervention Decrease in the Burnout score assessed by the Maslach Burnout Inventory‐General Survey after eight weeks of intervention INCLUSION CRITERIA: First phase of the study: being a technical‐administrative employee at USP's Ribeirão Preto campus; both sexes; be 18 years of age or older. Second phase of the study (intervention): Score at or above 23 points on the PSS14 scale.