Background: Nursing leaders are exposed to high stress that is exacerbated by the nursing shortage and the growing complexity of patient care. Stress has negative impacts on physical, psychosocial and spiritual aspects of nurses’ health. This study tested an abbreviated 4-week mindfulness meditation based stress reduction (MBSR) approach. The traditional MBSR program is an 8-week intensive, experiential learning program in which participants attend class for 2 hours each week and practice meditation for one hour a day. The vast majority of studies documenting the effectiveness of the program have been based on these stringent criteria. It was unknown whether a condensed version of MBSR, as in this study, would be effective in reducing stress and its symptoms in this sample of busy, highly functioning nurse leaders.  

 Method: A randomized, controlled design was used to test the efficacy of an intensive 4-week mindfulness meditation course (MMC) on biological, cognitive an emotional functioning in a sample of 33 nursing leaders. This presentation focuses on a portion of the larger study concerning the specific outcomes of stress symptom severity and caring efficacy.

 Hypotheses:
Indicators of stress symptom severity will improve following MMC as measured by the SCL-90-R.  State Anxiety scores will be significantly lower following MMC as measured by the STAI.  Caring Efficacy ratings will be significantly higher following MMC as measured by the CES.

 Results:
The results indicated significant reductions in symptom intensity of stress and anxiety in the meditation group and overall increases in both groups on caring efficacy. Among the MMC participants, index scores representing overall distress and symptom intensity were significantly lower following course completion (p= 0.15; p = 0.01, respectively). Similarly, scores on measures of depression and anxiety were significantly reduced in MCC subjects (p=0.04; p =0.05, respectively). Implications for nursing leadership, research and education will be presented.