The Effect of a Mindfulness Phone Application on NICU Nurses' Professional Quality of Life.

BACKGROUND

Evidence suggests that mindfulness training using a phone application (app) may support neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) nurses in their high stress work. If effective, phone apps could improve nurses' professional quality of life (QOL) defined as compassion satisfaction (CS) and compassion fatigue (CF) that includes burnout (BO) and secondary traumatic stress (STS).

PURPOSE

To test the hypothesis that use of a mindfulness phone app will increase NICU nurses' professional QOL.

METHODS

Using a single-group, pre/posttest design, investigators invited a convenience sample of 54 NICU nurses from a 377-bed Magnet-recognized, nonprofit hospital to complete a demographic sheet and 2 established scales: the Professional Quality of Life scale, version 5 (ProQOL5), and the Mindfulness Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS). The intervention was nurses' using the mindfulness phone app, Premium Moodfit , for 3 weeks.

RESULTS

Response rate was 41% (N = 22). A paired t test for the 9 nurses who returned both pre- and posttest questionnaires showed that their STS fell from moderate to low ( P = .003), while their low BO scores ( P = .12) and moderate CS scores ( P = .4) remained stable. Wilcoxon tests confirmed results: only STS decreased ( P =.01). The hypothesis was partly supported.

IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE AND RESEARCH

Using the Premium Moodfit mindfulness phone app may improve or maintain NICU nurses' professional QOL even under heightened stress. Individual nurses may independently access Moodfit and the free ProQOL5. Replication studies are warranted to confirm results and establish trends.