ABSTRACT
The goal of this project was to examine whether Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) influences perceived stress of nursing students. Background/Significance. College nursing students are under increasing stress. The current COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted this chronic, ongoing deficiency, prompting the need to identify interventions that support the mental health of future healthcare workers (HCWs). Problem. The increasing incidence of burnout and anxiety in the healthcare industry is concerning. The implementation of MBSR into nursing curricula has the potential to address this problem. In 2021, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) released a report, The Future of Nursing 2020-2030: Charting a Path to Achieve Health Equity, specifically addressing this issue. Recommendation three of the NASEM report supports the implementation of evidence-based interventions into educational systems to support the health and well-being of our current and future nurses. Provision five of the American Nurses Association (ANA) Code of Ethics for Nurses also states that a nurse owes the same duty to self as they give to others, implying a responsibility for self-care (ANA, 2015).PICOT Question. In nursing students (P), does the implementation of a brief mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) intervention (I) versus no MBSR (C) affect students' perceived stress (O) during their first semester in a nursing program (T)? Methods. This pre-post survey design pilot project evaluated whether an eight-week session of MBSR would have an impact on the perceived stress of first-semester nursing students. The Short Stress Overload Scale (SOS-S) and the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) were utilized to measure students' perceived stress to the MBSR sessions. Independent t tests were performed to analyze data. Results. Comparison of pre and post stress scores were not statistically significant. However, small sample size limited results. MBSR is supported in the literature to reduce perceived stress in nursing students. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)