Mindfulness in Clinician Therapeutic Relationships

Mindfulness is increasingly becoming acknowledged as an effective therapeutic mechanism. However, the level of the clinician's mindfulness and its impact on the therapeutic alliance have been minimally explored. The objective of the study was to explore the relationship between clinicians' mindfulness and their perceived therapeutic alliance. A cross-sectional correlational design was implemented to examine the relationship. Seventy-six adult mental health professionals took part in the study. Participants were administered questionnaires examining mindfulness and therapeutic alliance. Subscales of the mindfulness questionnaire were inputted into a regression model to examine their relevance to the therapeutic alliance. All subscales were significantly positively correlated with the therapeutic alliance and significantly predicted the quality of the therapeutic alliance explaining 32.4 % of its variance. Non-judgemental acceptance and openness to experiences were both identified as individual significant predictors. There is clearly an important relationship between mindfulness and the therapeutic alliance, especially non-judgemental acceptance and openness to experiences. Staff training in mindfulness may well improve therapeutic alliances between staff and patients, thus benefiting overall care.