The introduction of a self-care practice pilot through mindfulness with student nurses

Joint Event on 21^st Global Nursing Education Conference & 4^th International Conference on Holistic Medicine and Nursing Care

March 25-26, 2019 | Orlando, USA

Cynthia Smith Peters, Christopher Downing, and Hilary Fox

The University of West Florida,USA

Posters & Accepted Abstracts: J Nurs Care

Abstract :

Nursing students reportedly experience higher levels of stress and exhibit more physical and psychological symptoms of stress when compared to students in other undergraduate programs. Evidence shows that nurse anxiety and burnout triggered by stress may lead to medical errors and adverse patient outcomes. The purpose of the present study is to explore the introduction of an MBSR (Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction) technique (i.e., mindfulness meditation) as a means of self-care. A total of 89 senior-level BSN nursing students were recruited and randomly assigned to either the experimental (i.e., the group that received the mindfulness meditation) or the control condition (i.e., the group that did not receive the mindfulness meditation) before participating in the patient simulation exercise. The Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS) scale was used to assess the perceived stress levels of the research participants following the simulated patient care scenario. The results revealed that mindfulness meditation significantly decreased the perceived stress levels of the experimental group compared to the control group, t(76.43) = 3.65, p<0.05. The results of this study suggest that methods of self-care (i.e., mindfulness meditation) should be incorporated into undergraduate curricula to help teach nursing students a way to prevent stress and burnout, thus potentially avoiding harmful implication to future patients.

Biography :

E-mail: csmithpeters@uwf.edu