| Mental health providers may be particularly prone to experiencing stress, psychological distress, and burnout, which can negatively impact clinician well-being and patient care. Previous research suggests that self-care is beneficial and may address these concerns, yet questions remain about which elements of self-care are best for which types of mental health care providers at which stages of their careers. Given these questions and the increased attention to self-care research in the past decade, two meta-analyses were conducted to calculate weightedaverage effect sizes for the positive impact of self-care interventions across pre/post and controlled study designs, as well as to assess potential moderators and covariates. Overall, 112 studies met inclusion criteria (pre/post designs, k = 112 calculated effect sizes; controlled designs, k = 44 calculated effect sizes), and both meta-analyses indicated that there was a positive impact of self-care for mental health providers (pre/post designs, d = 0.53; controlled designs, d = 0.37). Few moderators appeared to be consistently significant or meaningful across analyses, suggesting that there may be no one-size-fits-all approach to self-care; however, consistent self-care practice, especially for mental health professionals, may result in greater positive outcomes. Additionally, self-care benefits were similar across different intervention types, but mindfulness interventions are likely best for improving specific mindfulness skills. These findings highlight the need to support mental health providers’ efforts to develop a personalized self-care approach that best fits their needs. Recommendations for how this may be accomplished at both an individual and institutional/organizational level are discussed. Keywords: self-care, mental health providers, mindfulness, burnout, stress, meta-analysis |