1119 Passage Meditation Improves Caregiving Self-efficacy among Health Professionals A Randomized Trial and Qualitative Assessment DOUG OMAN University of California, Berkeley, USA T. ANNE RICHARDS University of California, San Francisco, USA JOHN HEDBERG University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, USA CARL E. THORESEN Stanford University, USA Abstract Relational caregiving skills remain seldom studied in health professionals.We evaluated effects on health professional relational caregiving self-efficacy from an eight-week, 16-hour training in self-management tools. Physicians, nurses, chaplains, and other health professionals were randomized after pretest to treatment (n = 30) or waiting list (n = 31). Training used a previously researched program of Easwaran (1991/1978) derived from spiritual wisdom traditions. Changes were measured using a 34-item caregiving self-efficacy scale. Positive effects were observed at posttest, eight- and 19-week follow-up (ds = .38, .47, .37, all ps<.05),and were mediated by adherence to practices and stress reductions (p < .05), findings also obtained in qualitative interviews (n = 24). Evidence suggests this program enhances health professional caregiving self-efficacy, and may merit inclusion in training curricula. Journal of Health Psychology Copyright © 2008 SAGE Publications LosAngeles, London, New Delhi, Singapore andWashington DC www.sagepublications.com Vol 13(8) 1119–1135 DOI: 10.1177/1359105308095966 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. We acknowledge grant support from Fetzer Institute, the US National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (T32 HL07365–21), Metanexus Institute, and the JohnTempleton Foundation.We also acknowledge the assistance of Exempla Healthcare of Colorado and of co-instructors Don Etter, Sandy Fasso,Anne Hedberg, Debra Parsons, MD, Pat Sabadell, Maura Sullivan, and SharonYablon, and of our colleague Alex H. S. Harris. COMPETING INTERESTS: None declared. ADDRESS. Correspondence should be directed to: DOUG OMAN, PhD, School of Public Health, 50 University Hall #7360, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720–7360, USA. [email: DougOman@post.Harvard.edu] Keywords ■ mediators ■ self-efficacy ■ spirituality ■ spiritual modeling ■ stress