Exploring The effects Of An online asynchronous mindfulness meditation intervention with nursing students On Stress, mood, And Cognition: A descriptive study.

BACKGROUND

Nurses returning to school while working, raising families, and maintaining other roles, can experience stress, mood changes and cognition disturbance that negatively impact their academic success.

OBJECTIVES

To explore the effect of an online mindfulness meditation intervention with distance nursing students on stress, mood and cognition.

DESIGN

A 24 week descriptive study.

SETTINGS

An 8 week online intervention was offered to all undergraduate and graduate nursing students, of three nursing programs of a middle-sized university in mid-Atlantic US.

PARTICIPANTS

A total of 26 nursing students completed the study.

METHODS

An 8 week online, asynchronous mindfulness intervention was provided through the learning management system with a 16 week follow-up.

OUTCOMES MEASURES

Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), and Attention Network Test (ANT).

RESULTS

Stress was significantly reduced (F(2,24)=4.163, p=.019). A decreasing trend for anxiety was noted with significant difference between time points (F(1,23)=6.889, p=.015) when practice frequency was weekly to daily. Cognition: ability to shift attention, attention selection, concentration, and accuracy improved.

CONCLUSION

Findings from this study may illuminate the usefulness of a mindfulness based stress reduction program offered to distance nursing students. Further studies are needed to better demonstrate the effectiveness of the intervention.