The Effects of Mindfulness Meditation on Nursing Students' Stress and Anxiety Levels
Debra S Heinrich1, Kathleen A O'Connell
1About the Authors Debra S. Heinrich, EdD, RN, is a nurse educator, Nurses International, Anoka, Minnesota. Kathleen A. O'Connell, PhD, RN, FAAN, is Isabel Maitland Stewart Professor of Nursing Education, Teachers College Columbia University, New York, New York. The authors wish to thank Shohini Holden, EdD, for her invaluable contribution to this study and all the nursing students who participated. For more information, contact Dr. Heinrich at dsh2014@tc.columbia.edu .
Aim:
The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of a virtual mindfulness meditation intervention on stress and anxiety levels of 145 nursing students.
Background:
Because of the twin demands of classroom and clinical workloads, nursing students experience greater amounts of stress and anxiety than the average college student. Mindfulness meditation is a promising method to alleviate stress and anxiety.
Method:
A pretest-posttest randomized controlled design was used. Participants received either weekly mindfulness meditation recordings or recordings on nursing information. Participants completed the Perceived Stress Scale and the Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 Scale.
Results:
A two-way mixed analysis of variance and follow-up simple main effects tests revealed that participants in the experimental group, who received meditation recordings, experienced significantly lower levels of stress and anxiety on posttest surveys than the control group.
Conclusion:
Mindfulness meditation can reduce stress and anxiety levels in nursing students. This can improve students' overall mental and physical well-being.
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