Date of Conferral

2023

Degree

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP)

School

Nursing

Advisor

Carolyn Sipes

Abstract

Compassion fatigue, or secondary traumatic stress, is a state of physical and mental exhaustion caused by an inability to cope with the everyday environment that reduces the ability of the nurse to provide high-quality health care to a patient. The purpose of this staff education project, guided by Selye’s general adaption syndrome , was a 6-week, 30-second mindfulness exercise program to promote stress reduction for cardiac step-down and medical-surgical nurses. In this quantitative, pre- and posttest study, the Perceived Stress Scale was completed by a sample of 24 nurses who met the inclusion criteria. The practice focused whether educating nurses about a 30-second mindful body scan meditation practice reduce their stress in the workplace. The findings of the paired samples t-test results were statistically significant, t (24 = 2.36), p = .029. A challenge faced in the project was the inability to recruit the full minimum sample indicated by G*Power of 34 due to many issues including the COVID-19 pandemic. Statisticians recommended to bootstrap the data for the paired sample t test and not repeat the study many times, which could take years. The resulting mean increase (2.83) and significance (p = .029) indicated the intervention reduced stress, and the bootstrapped data (p = .025) indicated significance in reducing perceived stress using the 30-second stress-relieving technique. The findings of this project should be disseminated to hospital administration and health care workers to promote the technique, which may result in a significant reduction of perceived stress, thus supporting positive social change.

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