Effect of anuloma and viloma pranayama on stress of nurses

Abstract

Background: Nurses are an integral component of the health care delivery system. Nurses encounter a variety of stressors while discharging their duties. Mind-body interventions are beneficial in stress-related mental and physical disorders. Yogic breathing is a unique method for influencing psychological and stress-related disorders. Aim: To evaluate the effect of Anuloma and Viloma Pranayama on stress among nurses. Method and Materials: A pre experimental one group pretest posttest design was adopted for study. 296 female nurses were selected using nonprobability purposive sampling technique. Modified Expanded Nursing Stress Scale (ENSS) was used to measure the stress of clinical nurses. The pre test stress level was evaluated on the day 1 and then the CD of video-assisted intervention on anuloma and viloma pranayama was distributed among participants and were instructed to perform anuloma and viloma pranayama for six months and post test stress level was evaluated on day 180. Result: Result revealed that major nursing stress factors causing stress to the participants were economical and professional growth stressors, direct patient care, patient and family stressors and workload stressors, caused significantly higher stress among participants. Overall mean pre-test stress value was 106.12 ± 26.34, while the mean post-test stress value was 70.48 ± 15.18. After the intervention, a statistically significant decrease in the stress level was seen in nurses and the difference was found to be statistically significant (P<0.05). Conclusion: The video-assisted intervention of anuloma and viloma pranayama used in this study was effective in reducing stress of clinical nurses.