Evidence Based Mindfulness Resource for Undergraduate Nursing Students

Abstract

Nursing is a stressful educational major and attrition rates in nursing programs are high. Nursing students also have higher than normal anxiety, and often experience depression and burnout. Mindfulness interventions decrease depression, anxiety, and stress in nursing students. Stress reduction and resilience resources are not typically emphasized in nursing programs, but the literature recommends utilizing these strategies to address attrition rates. Recognizing and addressing burnout in nursing students helps to instill healthy coping strategies early on, and better prepare them to cope with workplace stress. Recognizing the effects of nurses’ stress and burnout on quality patient care, this project supports the Quadruple Aim of Healthcare. This DNP project created a website to provide quick, easily accessible, evidence-based mindfulness practices as a resource for undergraduate nursing students. We included a mindful breathing meditation, a body scan meditation, and two guided imagery meditations. The mindfulness meditations were designed to help reduce stress in the moment and build healthy habits through repeated use. The survey results showed students found the website easily accessible and useful. Improving mindfulness and stress management skills in nursing students can impact the healthcare system by keeping nursing students in school and in their jobs after they graduate. In this way, both the healthcare system and patients benefit, and nurses are empowered to become change agents for a better healthcare system for all. Given the high levels of burnout and the worsening nursing shortage, this project has value in supporting nursing students through their stressful curriculum.