Mind-Body Modalities for Nursing Students

Background: Nursing students around the world can experience tremendous stress due to their multi-faceted responsibilities. Stress is related to negative health and academic outcomes. Mind-body connection modalities have been used successfully to reduce stress and improve health among healthy and ill individuals in various cultures, but their effects have not yet been studied in the Arab culture. Thus, the purpose of this study was to examine and compare the effects of three of such modalities including progressive muscle relaxation (PMR), guided imagery (GI), and mindfulness meditation (MM) on stress and health outcomes in Jordanian nursing students. Methods: Using a randomized controlled design, 124 nursing students will be randomly assigned to 4 groups at a large university in Jordan. The 3 experimental groups (PMR, GI, and MM) will participate in 5 30-minute sessions (one session/week for 5 weeks) led by experienced trainers, in a private room during their clinical days. The control group will stay calm for 30 minutes during introducing the study interventions in another room at the university. The health outcomes will be measured at baseline (Time 1) and the end (Time 3) of the intervention in each group using different physical and self-report measures classified into different health categories such as cognitive health outcomes (executive brain function, stressful appraisal, mindfulness), physical health outcomes (e.g. physical symptoms, heart rate, blood pressure, neurobiological markers such as dopamine, serotonin, cortisol, adrenaline, and noradrenaline), and psychological health outcomes (e.g. depression, anxiety).