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The Impact of Mindful Meditation on Health Care Workers During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Kimberly Prado, Akeelah Robinson, Ying-Yu Chao

The Journal for Nurse Practitioners February 2, 2023 DOI: 10.1016/j.nurpra.2022.11.023 (opens in new tab)

Study at a glance

AI-extracted from the abstract
Characteristics Quasi-experimental study Peer reviewed
Sample size 100
Population Health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic
Duration 20 to 30 minutes daily for 30 days
Measures Cohen's Perceived Stress Scale
Topics Meditation
Keywords Stress Health care workers Pandemic Internet-based Covid-19
Key findings Perceived stress among health care workers fell from moderate to low after 30 days of daily use of a mobile mindful meditation app, with a statistically significant decrease between groups across various categories. The authors suggest reducing stress may improve health care workers' quality of life and potentially the quality of care they provide.

Abstract

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic placed a spotlight on health care workers as the world struggled with mental health crises. As the number of COVID-19 cases rose exponentially, this also paralleled health care workers' perceived stress burden and increased risk for mental health trauma. This research project assessed the impact of a mobile mindful meditation application on health care workers' perceived stress levels during a pandemic. Methodology: Through quasi-experimental design, researchers assessed the effect of using a mobile mindful meditation (Synctuition) app on health care workers' stress levels. Participants listened for 20 to 30 minutes daily for 30 days. Participants perceived stress levels were measured with Cohen's Perceived Stress Scale.

Results: Of the 100 participants, there was a statistically significant decrease in perceived stress reduction between the groups across various categories. The pretest perceived stress scores were reduced from moderate to low stress postintervention after using the mindful meditation application. Implications for practice: Reducing stress in health care workers can potentially increase the quality of life for health care workers. and lowering stress levels can potentially improve the quality of care provided.

Comparable studies

Other experimental studies on meditation, most cited first.

Study Year Design Participants
The benefits of being present: Mindfulness and its role in psychological well-being. Cancer patients (clinical intervention study) 2003 Mixed methods: scale development, correlational, quasi-experimental, laboratory, experience-sampling, and clinical intervention study
Loving-kindness meditation increases social connectedness. 2008 Controlled laboratory experiment
Mindfulness and mind-wandering: Finding convergence through opposing constructs. 2012 Two studies: correlational study and experimental study
Mental Training Enhances Attentional Stability: Neural and Behavioral Evidence 2009 Experimental study
Mindfulness meditation and substance use in an incarcerated population. Incarcerated population 2006 Quasi-experimental with treatment-as-usual control condition

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