Maryanna Klatt
Professor
Family and Community Medicine
Academic information
- Department: Family and Community Medicine
Research interests
- Developing and Evaluating Enhanced Emotional/Cognitive and Movement Programming
- Mindfulness
About
Biography
My research focus has been to develop and evaluate feasible, cost-effective ways to reduce the risk of stress-related chronic illness for both adults and children. Trained in mindfulness and a certified yoga instructor through Yoga Alliance, I combine these two approaches in a unique approach to stress prevention and reduction. My adult program, Mindfulness in Motion, is delivered at the worksite, while the program for children, Move into Learning, is a classroom-based intervention. Both programs combine yoga, mindfulness and relaxing music. Specifically, my research has shown that nurses working in a surgical intensive care unit reduced their stress by 40% (shown in their salivary amylase), university faculty and staff slept better, Scandinavian bank employees significantly reduced their perceived stress, cancer survivors and their caregivers became significantly more resilient, and inner-city third-graders significantly improved in hyperactivity and cognitive inattention — behaviors often related to stress. I have shown that mindful awareness interventions produce an average of $4,000 annual cost savings for adult participants up to five years postintervention. In 2011, I delivered a TEDx Columbus talk on my work with stress reduction and resiliency building.
Credentials
Education
- PhD - Educational Policy and Leadership
- The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, United States
- MA - Medical Ethics
- University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, United States
- BA - Psychology
- Kenyon College, Gambier, OH, United States
Research
Research interests
- Developing and Evaluating Enhanced Emotional/Cognitive and Movement Programming
- Mindfulness
Research, Education and Clinical Interests
My greatest contribution to curriculum development at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center has been my creation of the undergraduate educational minor, Integrative Approaches to Health and Wellness (INTHLTH-MN), housed within the Ohio State College of Medicine, and I have created four courses within the minor. These include The Evolving Art and Science of Medicine (College of Medicine), Body/Mind Goes to School (College of Education and Human Ecology), Yoga: Theory and Practice (College of Arts and Science) and an honors course, Mindful Resilience: From the Individual to the Organization, which was designed to teach resiliency skills to pre-professionals.
I also teach a freshman seminar, The Mindful College Student, to provide students early coping strategies sustain a successful academic career at Ohio State. Students across disciplines at Ohio State have reaped the benefits of my energy and enthusiasm, both in person and through my curriculum development, which will outlive my employment as a faculty member.
The strongest pedagogical technique that I utilize in the classroom is the creation of community among students. It’s important to me to balance technological innovation (which has the potential for human isolation) and the joy that’s possible through human, in-person connection. That said, I recognize the capacity for innovative web-based practices that can support and scale what happens in the classroom. Thus, my educational mindfulness intervention, Mindfulness in Motion (MIM), is a hybrid program, including weekly in-person classroom sessions with daily online practices. The Department of Family and Community Medicine hosts the online learning platform website that enables my students to individually access written tips, my audio and video practices and hot links that extend classroom teaching. This site is customized for four types of students — college students, health care professionals, busy working adults and cancer survivors. Stress reduction and resiliency building have been the foci of my teaching and research career. Since 2018, 475 learners have been through my MIM educational innovation, and over 700 learners since its inception. It’s currently offered to the community at Ohio State’s Center for Integrative Medicine. Interested in starting a group at your workplace? Email mindfulnessinmotion@osumc.edu
Professional Memberships
- Editorial board member, Global Advances in Health and Medicine
- Member, Academic Health Centers for Integrative Medicine Steering Committee, 2004-present
- Member, Medicine and the Arts Board, The Ohio State University College of Medicine, 2012-present
- Member, North American Primary Care Research Group, 2014-present
Postgraduate Education and Training
- Mindfulness-based stress reduction in mind-body medicine, Center for Mindfulness, University of Massachusetts Medical School, 2003
- Integrative Yoga Therapy Teacher Training Program, Yoga Alliance, 500-hour certification, 2008
- Mindful Practice in Medicine, University of Rochester School of Medicine, 2010
- Summer seminar on Contemplative Education, Smith College, 2015
More about my research
News and media
My news coverage
- Nearly half of Americans are stressed at least once a week, and 1 in 6 are stressed every day
- $10 million gift supports Center for Integrative Health at Ohio State
- Study: Mindfulness practice helps nurses reduce burnout and stress
- Exploring distress experiences of patients with sickle cell disease
- BWC awards $1.4 million to Ohio State Wexner Medical Center for Workforce Safety
- Study: Long-term benefits of mindfulness intervention to reduce stress, burnout
- Mindfulness Program Reduces Stress, Builds Resilience In Health Care Workers
- Study: Mindfulness Improves Sleep, Reduces Stress In Cancer Survivors, Caregivers
- Ohio State Study: ICU Nurses Benefit From Workplace Intervention To Reduce Stress