Stress
Conditions
Keywords
Healing Rhythms™, Meditation, Biofeedback, Stress
Brief summary
The purpose of this study is to assess a novel meditation program which is biofeedback reinforced (Healing Rhythms™) as a means to improving stress management in a population of nurses practicing in the hospital setting.
Detailed description
Stress is a common problem with significant ramifications for health. This is especially true in the workplace and particularly true for nurses practicing in a hospital environment. A number of factors (e.g. an aging population, the obesity epidemic, patients presenting with multi-system diseases, etc.) have dramatically increased the demands on hospital nurses in the past decade. This increased stress has potential ramifications at a personal level (e.g. increased risk of ill health) as well as an institutional (e.g. higher staff turnover). Meditation has been shown to be an effective tool for stress management. A self-directed, computer-guided meditation training program that can be pursued independently may be particularly useful for hospital nurses where scheduling challenges may preclude the use of scheduled classes. Healing Rhythms™ is a computer program that teaches meditation and uses biofeedback (heart rate variability and galvanic skin response) to reinforce the training.
Interventions
BEHAVIORALHealing Rhythms™ Meditation Program
The Healing Rhythms™ meditation program was chosen as the intervention for this study because it has a long history of use in the consumer market, it provides a dual-mode biofeedback which allows users to visually see their progress, and it provides an attractive and engaging user interface which is enjoyable to use. This is a critical factor as the research cited documents the importance of adherence in achieving optimal outcomes.
Sponsors
Wild Divine
Mayo Clinic
Study design
Allocation
NA
Intervention model
SINGLE_GROUP
Primary purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
NONE
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to 90 Years
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
* Subjects ≥ 18 years of age * Subjects that have given consent to participate * Subjects that have access to a home computer
Exclusion criteria
* Subjects who are currently engaged in a routine meditative practice
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame |
|---|---|
| Assess the efficacy of a novel meditation program on stress, anxiety and quality of life (QOL) in nurses practicing in the hospital. Compare the level of stress, anxiety and QOL before and after a 4 week training period utilizing Healing Rhythms™. | 4 Weeks |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame |
|---|---|
| Evaluate feasibility of integrating a novel meditation program into an overall stress management program for nurses practicing in the hospital. Report overall satisfaction and identify challenges with the experience of the meditation program. | 4 Weeks |
Countries
United States
Outcome results
None listed