The Effects of Mindfulness Meditation on Nursing Students' Stress and Anxiety Levels.
Debra S Heinrich, Kathleen A O'Connell
Nursing Education Perspectives DOI: 10.1097/01.NEP.0000000000001159 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Randomized controlled trial Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 145 |
| Population | Nursing students |
| Intervention | Mindfulness meditation recordings |
| Topics | Anxiety Meditation |
| Citations | 29 |
| Key findings | Nursing students who received mindfulness meditation recordings experienced significantly lower stress and anxiety levels than those who received nursing information recordings. |
Abstract
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. 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. 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. 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. Mindfulness meditation can reduce stress and anxiety levels in nursing students. This can improve students' overall mental and physical well-being.