Incorporating a Mindfulness-Based Mental Health Intervention on Short-Term Mission Trips

In Honduras, a lack of mental health providers and the difficult terrain limit access to mental health care. During a week-long healthcare mission clinic, nurse practitioners provided Scriptures and a 5-minute mindfulness-based stress reduction intervention to participants who had scored 5 or above (suggesting moderate to high stress) on the Stress Visual Numeric Scale. Spontaneous patient feedback indicated the intervention was helpful. The descriptive survey findings indicate high self-reported stress levels among participants and that stress screening and intervention can be implemented efficiently within a healthcare mission clinic setting.