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 |
Citations in the library
Cited by 2
Cites 6
- The benefits of meditation and mindfulness practices during times of crisis such as COVID-19 Irish Journal of Psychological Medicine May 14, 2020
- Efficacy of the Mindfulness Meditation Mobile App “Calm” to Reduce Stress Among College Students: Randomized Controlled Trial JMIR mHealth and uHealth June 1, 2019
- Unpleasant meditation-related experiences in regular meditators: Prevalence, predictors, and conceptual considerations PLoS One May 9, 2019
- Happier Healers: Randomized Controlled Trial of Mobile Mindfulness for Stress Management. The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine May 2018
- Mindfulness for Novice Pediatric Nurses: Smartphone Application Versus Traditional Intervention. Journal of pediatric nursing 2017
and 1 more in the library