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Increased Salivary Oxytocin and Empathy in Students of Clinical and Health Psychology After a Mindfulness and Compassion-Based Intervention

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Abstract

Objectives

Mindfulness and compassion-based interventions (MCBI) have shown to be effective in increasing self-reported empathy in healthcare professionals. However, no studies described a beneficial effect of MCBI on biological variables related to empathy. In this study, we analyze the effects of an MCBI on the basal levels of salivary oxytocin (sOXT), empathic accuracy, and self-reported empathy in students of clinical and health psychology (N = 90).

Methods

In the experimental group (n = 37), an MCBI was applied. In the active control group (n = 27), students participated in basic psychotherapeutic skills training. In the waiting list group (n = 26), students did not participate in any intervention. A repeated-measures analysis of variance was performed, including pre- and post-intervention evaluations and the follow-up evaluation.

Results

Results indicate a significant interaction between the groups on the basal levels of sOXT (p = .045, ηp2 = .05) and perspective taking (p = .040, ηp2 = .06), so that the experimental group showed increased sOXT at the end of the MCBI (p = .009, d = .66) and in perspective taking on the follow-up evaluation (p = .001, d = .52).

Conclusions

Introducing MCBI in the university education of clinical and health psychologists can help to improve their empathy skills, which would ultimately have a beneficial influence on the health of the users of their services. Furthermore, sOXT could be used as a valid biomarker in the study of the effects of MCBI on biological variables associated with empathy and affective bonds in different settings.

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Acknowledgments

Authors thank the kindness and collaboration in the study to the “Centro Valenciano de Psicoterapia”, the “Centre Gestalt”, and the “Clínica Psicoanalítica Baumgarten-Santamaría”. CIBEROBN is an initiative of the ISCIII.

Funding

This study was supported by the Research Grants 2017 from the Banco Sabadell Foundation, and Grants for training pre-doctoral research personnel from the Valencian Government (ACIF/2016/383) and from the European Social Fund.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychobiology, University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain

    Miguel Bellosta-Batalla, Marta Rodríguez-Arias & Luis Moya-Albiol

  2. Department of Psychology and Sociology, University of Zaragoza, Teruel, Spain

    M. Carmen Blanco-Gandía

  3. Department of Personality, Evaluation and Psychological Treatment, University of Valencia, Avda. Blasco Ibáñez, 21, 46010, Valencia, Spain

    Ausiàs Cebolla

  4. Ciber Physiopathology of Obesity and Nutrition (CIBEROBN), Institute of Health Carlos III, Madrid, Spain

    Ausiàs Cebolla

  5. Department of Evolutionary and Educational Psychology, University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain

    Josefa Pérez-Blasco

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Contributions

MBB: designed and executed the study, applied the mindfulness and compassion-based intervention, performed the data analyses, and wrote the article. MCBG: performed the sOXT analyses, and collaborated with the writing and editing of the final manuscript. MRA: collaborated with the sOXT analyses and the writing and editing of the final manuscript. AC: participated in the design of the study, assisted with the data analyses, and collaborated with the writing of the article. JPB: participated in the design of the study, and applied the mindfulness and compassion-based intervention. LMA: participated in the design of the study, and collaborated with the writing of the article. All authors approved the final version of the article for submission.

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Correspondence to Ausiàs Cebolla.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the University of Valencia Ethics Committee (H1499537283854) and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Bellosta-Batalla, M., Blanco-Gandía, M.C., Rodríguez-Arias, M. et al. Increased Salivary Oxytocin and Empathy in Students of Clinical and Health Psychology After a Mindfulness and Compassion-Based Intervention. Mindfulness 11, 1006–1017 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-020-01316-7

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