Mahamantra chanting as an effective intervention for stress reduction among nursing professionals—A randomized controlled study

Abstract

IntroductionNursing professionals are highly subjected to stressful and burnout episodes. It has been recommended that nursing professionals should engage in coping mechanisms to handle work related stress and improve their quality of life. Mahamantra chanting is one potential simple, effective coping mechanism, the effect of which is evaluated in this present randomized controlled study. Materials and methodsNurses were assigned randomly into a control group (n = 15) or Mahamantra intervention group (n = 15). Nurses in the intervention group were asked to chant Mahamantra for 20 min each day for 45 days. Serum stress markers and metabolic parameters were evaluated before and after Mahamantra intervention. ResultsThere was significant reduction in serum cortisol and salivary amylase levels in the Mahamantra intervention groups. There were significant alterations in the metabolic parameters among the nurses of the intervention group. The effect estimate for cortisol level was 75.33 (CI: 63.99, 86.77). ConclusionThis exploratory study suggests that Mahamantra chanting is a simple, economical and effective intervention technique to be followed on a routine basis to alleviate stress and burnout among nursing health care professionals.