Abstract
BackgroundAmong healthcare workers, nurses have a particularly high risk of stress. Stressful conditions in the workplace increase the possibility of burnout and psychological distress. Short mindfulness-based interventions can help to decrease stress, anxiety and depression. This study aimed to explore the effectiveness of a mindfulness-based intervention in reducing perceived stress, anxiety and depression among public teaching hospital staff nurses.MethodsThirty-five nurses from various specialities were recruited from Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia (HUSM). The intervention comprised a 1-day brief mindfulness-based intervention workshop and 1 h group practice session each month for 3 months together with daily follow-up via WhatsApp group. All the participants completed a self-administered sociodemographic questionnaire validated for use in a Malay population. The Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale 21 (DASS 21) and Perceived Stress Scale 10 (PSS 10) were used to measure perceived stress, anxiety and depression before the intervention, and 3 months later upon completion of the intervention.ResultsThere was a statistically significant reduction in the scores for stress perception (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.06, 2.92; P = 0.04) and anxiety (95% CI: 0.06, 2.34; P = 0.04) post-intervention.ConclusionA brief mindfulness-based intervention was effective in reducing perceived stress and anxiety among nurses.
Highlights
Occupational stress is characterised by harmful physical and emotional responses when job requirements do not conform to workers’ abilities, resources or needs [1, 2]
This study aimed to assess the effectiveness of a 1-day brief mindfulness-based intervention based on a 5-week mindfulness-based intervention programme (MINDFULGym) developed previously [19] in reducing stress among nurses
This level of stress is comparable to that found in a cross-sectional study on ward nurses in a Malaysian public hospital, which reported that 25% of nurses reported a high level of perceived stress [5]
Summary
Occupational stress is characterised by harmful physical and emotional responses when job requirements do not conform to workers’ abilities, resources or needs [1, 2]. As the nursing profession faces high demands in terms of service provision, it is considered a stressful job [1, 3]. According to Ghawadra et al [4], 41% of hospital staff nurses experience psychological distress. (5) found similar findings, reporting that 24.6% of ward nurses in a Malaysian public hospital experienced stress. Interventions for stress reduction are crucial for nurses. Research has focused on the effectiveness of mindfulness training in stress reduction [3–5]. Nurses have a high risk of stress. Stressful conditions in the workplace increase the possibility of burnout and psychological distress. Short mindfulness-based interventions can help to decrease stress, anxiety and depression. This study aimed to explore the effectiveness of a mindfulness-based intervention in reducing perceived stress, anxiety and depression among public teaching hospital staff nurses
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