Abstract
Purpose: This study aimed to implement and quantitatively evaluate the Mind-Body Medicine (MBM) Skills program among Dutch medical and Swedish nursing students.Methods: The MBM Skills program was piloted among second year medical students at Utrecht University and first year nursing students at Mid Sweden University in the period 2011–2013. During the course, the participating students learned and practiced Mind-Body techniques such as relaxation, meditation, guided imagery, biofeedback, physical exercise, art, music and movement. The effects of the MBM skills program on perceived stress, empathy, and self-reflection were evaluated by the following validated scales: Perceived Stress Scale, Interpersonal Reactivity Index, and Groningen Reflection Ability Scale. Participating students and controls answer(-ed) the different questionnaires at baseline, at the end of the course, and 6 and 12 months later.Results: In total, 55 medical students and 49 nursing students have participated in the MBM skills program. Baseline analysis (age, gender, mind-body experience, perceived stress, four subscales of the IRI, and self-reflection) demonstrated that participating nursing students were significantly older (p<0.001), and had higher scores for empathetic concern (p<0.001) and self-reflection (p=0.001) than participating medical students. Further, baseline analysis showed no significant differences in baseline characteristics between intervention and control group for medical students, except from significantly higher levels of perceived stress among controls (p=0.008). Regarding nursing students, no differences were found between intervention and control group, except from significantly higher scores for empathetic concern among participants (p=0.023).Conclusion: We have successfully implemented the MBM Skills program for medical and nursing students. Baseline analysis showed that participants of the course were not a selected group, except from perceived stress among medical students and empathetic concern among nursing students. Data on the effects of the MBM skills program on perceived stress, empathic concern and self-reflection are currently being evaluated and will be presented at the conference.
Published Version
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