Mindfulness Meditation for Nurses: A Healthy Coping Tool for Emotionally Hazardous Work (original) (raw)
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The Effects of Mindfulness Meditation on Stress and Burnout in Nurses
Journal of Holistic Nursing, 2021
Background: Occupational burnout related to stress in the workplace is experienced by nurses who are regularly confronted with trauma, suffering, and high workloads. Burnout can negatively impact patient care and have detrimental effects on nurses’ physical and mental health. Mindfulness-based stress reduction programs have been researched as a potential holistic intervention for reducing stress and burnout in nurses through cultivating present awareness, emotional regulation, and positive thinking. Purpose: This critical review of the literature explores current knowledge on the effectiveness of mindfulness meditation on stress and burnout in nurses, examines gaps in the current literature, and provides recommendations for future research on this topic. Methods: Search terms included mindfulness, meditation, mindfulness-based stress reduction , occupational stress, stress, burnout, and nurs*. Peer-reviewed research directly related to the impact of mindfulness-based stress reductio...
Part III of the study on mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) describes qualitative data and discusses the implications of the findings. Study analysis revealed that nurses found MBSR helpful. Greater relaxation and self-care and improvement in work and family relationships were among reported benefits. Challenges included restlessness, physical pain, and dealing with difficult emotions. KEY WORDS: meditation, mindfulness, nurse, stress, stress management Holist Nurs Pract 2005;19(2):78–86 An 8-week mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) program, based on the University of Massachusetts Medical Center program created by Jon Kabat-Zinn, 1 was offered to nurse professionals at Lehigh Valley Hospital and Health Network (LVHHN). The effects of MBSR on nurse stress and burnout were studied and presented in a 3-part series. Part I reported on the rationale for offering MBSR to nurses and the process of developing and implementing a program within the LVHHN system. 2 Part II of the series presented the quantitative data analysis, reporting the effects of MBSR on burnout, psychological distress, and mindfulness. 3 whom we collected quantitative data was small (N = 25), suggesting that these measures should be interpreted with caution and supplemented with other types of analysis. Second, because almost no data exist examining the impact of MBSR on nurse burnout and stress, qualitative data allowed us to explore issues in a more open-ended way and helped uncover areas to be explored in future studies. Third, literature on the nurse as healer, explored in Part I, 2 suggested that many aspects of becoming a healer are difficult to capture through existing quantitative measures; for example, self-care, self-awareness (wounded healer), and therapeutic presence. MBSR potentially affects all of these areas, and they are all closely related to our quantitative outcome measures of burnout and stress. By asking the nurses more open-ended questions, both during and after the program's completion, we heard more of their stories relating to these issues. In this way, unexpected data emerged, and we had a better understanding of the process. Finally, as the program was taught, we were struck by how much new, unanticipated qualitative data emerged. To illustrate, the first 2 authors, who taught the program, received unsolicited e-mails throughout the course of the program, each containing stories, poetry, or journal entries about the participant's reactions to the experience. We believe these communications contained rich data that added to our 78
The Effect of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Training on Stress and Burnout of Nurses
2017
Nurses as a group of care providers are under increasing stress and burnout is common. Mindfulness-based interventions play a potential role in reducing stress and burnout. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of mindfulness-based stress reduction training on stress and burnout among nurses working in two selected hospitals in Karaj in 2015. This study was semi-experimental with pre-test, post-test and a control group. Totally, 60 nurses were selected by convenience sampling and entered the study. The intervention was a course of mindfulness-based stress reduction training including mindfulness practice (body scan, mindfulness gestures, meditation of walk and sit and awareness of breathing), in addition, awareness of pleasant and unpleasant events and the use of mindfulness in daily routine activities. Standard questionnaires of job stress of Tufts and Gary Anderson and burnout of Maslach were completed before and after training by the subjects. The majority of nurs...
Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction and Workplace Burnout: A Literature Review
Creating Healthy Work Environments, 2019
Background: Burnout is a significant issue in the healthcare workplace (Aiken et al., 2002). Nurse burnout leads to negative effects that impact the overall health of the nurse with the potential of producing chronic physical and mental health conditions (Asuero et al., 2014). In addition to the nurse’s own compromised health, nurse burnout can adversely influence the quality of patient care provided (Poghosyan et al., 2010) and the engagement of the nurse in providing empathetic and compassionate care to patients due to compassion fatigue, which facilitates a decline in motivation and helping patients achieve their healthcare goals (Mahon et al., 2017). Nurse burnout has also been found to impact job satisfaction (Aiken et al., 2002), which could negatively impact healthcare organizations due to decreased nurse retention rates. Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) has been introduced as an intervention that brings about awareness and attentiveness to an experience (Halm, 2017)...
Mindfulness: Assessing the Feasibility of a Pilot Intervention to Reduce Stress and Burnout
Journal of Holistic Nursing, 2018
Purpose: To examine the feasibility of a brief mindfulness intervention and to reduce nurse stress and burnout in an inpatient medical unit. Design: Single-arm, pre/post test study design. Method: Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI), and pre/post demographic questionnaires given at pre-intervention (baseline) and 6 weeks post-intervention. Intervention effectiveness was compared between the pre-survey ( N = 52) and post-survey ( N = 33). Five choices were offered to inpatient staff: a guided mindfulness CD, soothing sounds machine with a breathing technique instructional, mindfulness prompts, a journal, and water/snacks during six consecutive weekends. Findings: The mean PSS score did not improve and demonstrated a slight increase during the six-weekend intervention. However, mean MBI scores for the subscales of emotional exhaustion and depersonalization did demonstrate improvement as evident by decreased scores. Additionally, the mean MBI score for the sub...
Journal of Nursing Education and Practice, 2018
Background and objective: There is a vast amount of literature documenting the epidemic of stress and burnout within the nursing profession. It is well established that chronic stress contributes to burnout among nursing staff and students. Research suggests that organizational change, curriculum adjustment, and mindfulness interventions can contribute to decreased stress and better outcomes for nurses. The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of a Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) intervention on the perceived stress and burnout of students in a cohort of Registered Nurses (RNs) completing a Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Degree. Methods: This study utilized pre and post data collection to explore the effect of a MBSR intervention on self-reported perceived stress and burnout using the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) and Copenhagen Burnout Inventory (CBI). Study participants (n = 24) received a general orientation to the study followed by a brief intervention using the body scan meditation, a component of the MBSR-model. Students registered with the Remind mobile app to supplement the live instruction and to encourage the students to engage in daily mindfulness practice. Results: The repeated measures ANOVAs for all three CBI factors showed that personal, work, and client burnout means were statistically lower at four weeks post-intervention than they were at baseline. Perceived stress measures four weeks post-intervention were also statistically lower than baseline. There were no demographic interactions, and only one main effect for gender, in that males reported lower perceived stress. Conclusions: The MBSR intervention was successful in reducing the self-reported perceived stress and burnout of RN students completing their DNP Degree.
A brief mindfulness-based stress reduction intervention for nurses and nurse aides
Applied Nursing Research, 2006
Whereas the causes and negative consequences of stress among nurses are well known, less is known about effective ways to reduce or prevent this growing problem. Mindfulness-based stress reduction programs are proving to be effective in reducing stress and improving health in a variety of clinical populations. A smaller body of evidence suggests that these programs are also effective for nonclinical populations at risk for stress-related health problems. This study involved the development and evaluation of a brief 4-week mindfulness intervention for one such group-nurses and nurse aides. In comparison with 14 wait-list control participants, 16 participants in the mindfulness intervention experienced significant improvements in burnout symptoms, relaxation, and life satisfaction. The results of this pilot study, together with a natural fit between mindfulness philosophy and nursing practice theory, suggest that mindfulness training is a promising method for helping those in the nursing profession manage stress, even when provided in a brief format. D
Healthcare, 2021
Mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) are reported by experimental studies as practical approaches to reduce burnout in primary healthcare professionals (PHCP). However, to date, no research has synthesized the evidence to determine the overall effects of MBIs for reducing burnout in PHCP. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to analyze the effects of MBIs to reduce burnout in PHCP. We searched articles in the PubMed/MEDLINE, Web of Science, Cochrane, and Scopus databases from inception to September 2021 using MeSH terms: “mindfulness”, “burnout”, and “primary healthcare”. Two reviewers extracted the data and assessed the risk of bias. We used a random-effects meta-analysis to calculate the standardized mean differences (SMD) and mean differences (MD) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) of emotional exhaustion (EE), depersonalization (DP), and personal accomplishment (PA) domains of burnout. Of 61 records, ten were included (n = 417). Overall, the studies were rated as...
A Review on Mindfulness and Nursing Stress Among Nurses
ANALITIKA, 2018
Previous research has been done on mindfulness and nursing stress but no review has been done to highlight the most up-to-date findings, to justify the recommendation of mindfulness training for the nursing field. The present paper aims to review the relevant studies, derive conclusions, and discuss future direction of research in this field.A total of 19 research papers were reviewed. The majority was intervention studies on the effects of mindfulness-training programs on nursing stress. Higher mindfulness is correlated with lower nursing stress. Mindfulness-based training programs were found to have significant positive effects on nursing stress and psychological well-being. The studies were found to have non-standardized intervention methods, inadequate research designs, small sample size, and lack of systematic follow-up on the sustainability of treatment effects, limiting the generalizability of the results. There is also a lack of research investigation into the underlying mechanism of action of mindfulness on nursing stress. Future research that addresses these limitations is indicated.