A mindfulness-based intervention aimed at behavioral and psychological wellbeing of nurses

The intervention protocol is similar to the brief mindfulness-based stress reduction program designed by Mackenzie (2006). He synthesizes its main elements from Kabat-Zinn's (1990) traditional mindfulness-based stress reduction program. The participants will be recruited from nurses inside the hospital for the two intervention groups so that the 65 nurses will receive the mindfulness meditation session inside one of the hospital rooms equipped to deliver the intervention, and the second group of the 65 nurses who will receive the intervention in a natural setting outside the hospital (i.e. park or recreation center, that will be decided based on the funding to be determined after getting the IRB approval). Intervention groups will practice mindfulness meditation once weekly for 4 weeks as a group (i.e. 4 sessions for each of the two internevtional groups). There are no recommendations about group size in the literature, but we will use small group sizes between 10 and 20 participants in each session for convenience. Mindfulness-based intervention trainers will guide the mindfulness meditation sessions, and each session is 30 minutes long. The intervention comprises four 30-minute training sessions that cover the following topics: an introduction to mindfulness, typical barriers to practice, the repercussions of attachment and aversion to judging events, and methods for bringing mindfulness into one's daily life. The body scan, sitting meditation, and a brief three-minute breathing exercise for use in times of acute stress were all experienced components of the sessions (Mackenzie et al., 2006; Poulin et al., 2008). In addition, the participants in the intervention groups will be instructed to practice mindfulness mediation individually at home for at least 10 minutes daily for 5 days a week by using the audio recording and handout guides for mindfulness-based intervention. To assess and monitor participants' adherence to the intervention, participants will be asked about the frequency of performing the MM as a part of the follow-up data collection process. In addition, the researchers will maintain a record of attendance.