A Mindfulness Meditation for Nurses During Pandemic

Subject:	Nursing
Pages:	4
Words:	831
Reading time:	4 min
Study level:	Master

The suggested evidence-based intervention will help to curb the levels of stress in nurses by offering them relaxation techniques that will lead to a drop in tension and work pressure. Previous studies have declared that mindful meditation has an ameliorating effect on the levels of depression, stress, and workplace burnout in nurses (Daya & Hearn, 2018). Specifically, with the adoption of the program based on mindfulness meditation, nurses are likely to be less prone to developing stress-associated mental health concerns, such as anxiety and depression (Mohammed, Pappous, Muthumayandi, & Sharma, 2018). Moreover, the proposed technique will allow controlling the levels of workplace burnout in nurses, leading to a drop in the specified phenomenon.

Introducing a process measure as the tool for controlling compliance with the proposed therapy is critical to the credibility, trustworthiness, and the ultimate value of research results. In the case in point, it is necessary to establish control strategies before enrollment; for instance, the use of a study protocol as the method of keeping compliance levels in check would be beneficial. Additionally, one may consider the use of a patient information table where key data about changes in the participants’ behavior will be recorded (Lenette et al., 2018). Thus, once unusual or unexplainable patterns are identified, a researcher may suspect an instance of incompliance.

In addition to the general data analysis process, it will be necessary to introduce corrections associated with the changes in participants’ compliance. Since it is expected that not all research participants will follow the established set of steps with the highest precision possible, variance in compliance levels is expected. After the assessment of participants’ compliance rates is performed, the specified data will have to be added to the analysis so that the overall result could be more accurate (Laughland & Kvavilashvili, 2018). It is believed that, with the introduction of a diary- or report-based tracking system, one will be able to increase compliance rates to at least 85%.

Key Objectives

Table 1. Objectives for Mindfulness Meditation in Nurses

Objective	Content	Teaching Topics	Evaluation Methods
Reinforcing the importance of stress control	Definition of stress and identification of its effects on nurses; Outlining the positive outcomes of effective stress control; Emphasizing the harmful effects of the absence of stress control (Michell et al., 2017).	Stress control and its key implementation techniques; Obstacles to stress control and how to overcome them; Development of stress control habits in the workplace (Michell et al., 2017).	Quizzes for testing nurses’ knowledge; Surveys for identifying key stress factors; Interviews for locating possible obstacles (Michell et al., 2017).
Offering strategies for meditation and relaxation	Exploring physical techniques (breathing control, body control, etc.); Locating mental techniques (increased attention, knowledge of one’s self, etc.) (Michell et al., 2017)	Mindful meditation: definition and key objectives; Mindful meditation techniques; Development of a custom mindfulness meditation technique (Michell et al., 2017).	Questionnaires for testing knowledge; Observations for testing skills; Interviews for determining the effects (Michell et al., 2017).
Encouraging the habit of using meditations as a stress relief technique	Developing a habit of mindfulness meditation in the workplace; Finding time to engage in mindfulness meditation in the workplace; Controlling the process of meditation to achieve the best results (Michell et al., 2017).	CBT techniques for managing one’s stress levels (Michell et al., 2017); Developing an understanding of changes in one’s mental health; Understanding one’s needs and the strategies for meeting them (Michell et al., 2017).	Quantitative assessment of stress levels in nurses; Questionnaires evaluating the efficacy of the program; Interviews providing feedback from nurses (Michell et al., 2017).

Ensuring confidentiality is one of the critical concerns on which a researcher must focus when working with participants. To protect the data supplied by the participants, a password-protected database with reinforced security against issues such as DDoS attacks will have to be implemented (Al-Janabi, Al-Shourbaji, Shojafar, & Shamshirband, 2017). To protect the identity of patients, their actual names will not be disclosed in the research; instead, the participants will be provided with code names, such as “Participant A.”

Managing the collected data will require the use of digital tools. Specifically, the information will be recorded digitally, including both interviews and questionnaires. Likewise, the information will be stored in a digital database with password protection. To ensure that the data will remain secure over time, changing the password regularly and creating backups will be required (Perrier et al., 2017). The data will be maintained throughout the research, after which it will be erased to prevent any leakage of personal information.

The process of data dissemination will take place primarily using digital tools for data presentation. Namely, PowerPoint will be utilized as the main technology for detailing research results and making them readily available to the target audience (Magdalinou, Mantas, Montandon, Weber, & Gallos, 2019). However, the specified process will also benefit from the use of traditional forms of research data dissemination, which include posters and papers. Patient data will be protected by using letters to mark participants (e.g., “Patient A”) instead of real names.

References

Al-Janabi, S., Al-Shourbaji, I., Shojafar, M., & Shamshirband, S. (2017). Survey of main challenges (security and privacy) in wireless body area networks for healthcare applications. Egyptian Informatics Journal, 18(2), 113-122. Web.

Daya, Z., & Hearn, J. H. (2018). Mindfulness interventions in medical education: A systematic review of their impact on medical student stress, depression, fatigue and burnout. Medical Teacher, 40(2), 146-153. Web.

Laughland, A., & Kvavilashvili, L. (2018). Should participants be left to their own devices? Comparing paper and smartphone diaries in psychological research. Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition, 7(4), 552-563. Web.

Lenette, C., Botfield, J. R., Boydell, K., Haire, B., Newman, C. E., & Zwi, A. B. (2018). Beyond compliance checking: A situated approach to visual research ethics. Journal of Bioethical Inquiry, 15(2), 293-303. Web.

Magdalinou, A., Mantas, J., Montandon, L., Weber, P., & Gallos, P. (2019). Disseminating research outputs: The CrowdHEALTH project. Acta Informatica Medica, 27(5), 348-354. Web.

Mitchell, J. T., McIntyre, E. M., English, J. S., Dennis, M. F., Beckham, J. C., & Kollins, S. H. (2017). A pilot trial of mindfulness meditation training for ADHD in adulthood: impact on core symptoms, executive functioning, and emotion dysregulation. Journal of Attention Disorders, 21(13), 1105-1120. Web.

Mohammed, W. A., Pappous, A., Muthumayandi, K., & Sharma, D. (2018). The effect of mindfulness meditation on therapists’ body-awareness and burnout in different forms of practice. European Journal of Physiotherapy, 20(4), 213-224. Web.

Perrier, L., Blondal, E., Ayala, A. P., Dearborn, D., Kenny, T., Lightfoot, D.,… MacDonald, H. (2017). Research data management in academic institutions: A scoping review. PloS One, 12(5), 1-14. Web.