| Description |
Nursing students are faced with stress on a regular basis, which can impact physical and psychological functioning. Despite the identification of stress, anxiety, poor performance, and risk for depression, few studies identify measures to manage stress in a student nurse population. The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of a brief mindfulness breathing intervention to decrease stress and ultimately the risk for depression while increasing self-efficacy with clinical skills performance in a 1st-year student nurse population. Participants were recruited from an associate degree nursing program at a northwestern university. Data gathered included demographic information, depression scores, physiological measures (i.e., blood pressure and pulse), self-efficacy scores, and skills performance scores. The design was a two-group (experimental and no-treatment control) true experimental randomized control trial with the following four repeated measures: (a) pretest, (b) posttest, (c) 2-month follow-up test, and (d) 4-month follow-up test. Data collection took place from November 2009 to March 2010. The sample (N = 85) was predominantly female (87.1%, n = 74) and Caucasian (89.4%, n = 86). Fifty-six of the participants were married and 46% of the participants identified themselves as parents of children still living at home. Analyses of variance demonstrated a greater mean decrease for the intervention group than for the treatment-as-usual group following the mindfulness breathing intervention for depression, F(1,82) = 6.864, p = .010; systolic, F(1,81) = 6.557, p = .012; and diastolic, F(1,81) = 6.078, p = .016-measures indicating the intervention may be of benefit. Pulse did not reach statistical significance. Analyses of variance for mindfulness, self-efficacy, and skills performance did not reach significance. Correlations conducted on measures indicated that as depression decreased, systolic and diastolic measures also decreased. As mindfulness increased, self-efficacy increased, and as self-efficacy increased, skills performance also increased. These results suggest that mindfulness may be of benefit as a method to decrease the risk for depression while contributing to increased self-efficacy and skills performance in a student nurse population. Although not all measures achieved statistical significance, the findings are encouraging for increasing feelings of confidence, leading to a more rewarding educational experience in nursing students |
