Clinical trial NCT01011790: Evaluation of a Biofeedback-assisted Meditation Program as a Stress Management Tool for Hospital Nurses
Official title: Evaluation of a Biofeedback-assisted Meditation Program as a Stress Management Tool for Hospital Nurses: A Pilot Study
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Phase: NA
Conditions: Stress
Keywords: Healing Rhythms™
Meditation
Biofeedback
Stress
Lead sponsor: Mayo Clinic
Sponsor class: OTHER
Collaborators: name: Wild Divine
First posted: 2009-11-11
Enrollment: 11
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 18
Maximum age (years): 90
Standard ages: ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: yes
Allocation: NA
Intervention model: SINGLE_GROUP
Primary purpose: TREATMENT

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.

Eligibility criteria: 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

Primary outcomes:
measure: 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™.
timeFrame: 4 Weeks
Secondary outcomes:
measure: 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.
timeFrame: 4 Weeks
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Rochester
country: United States
facility: Mayo Clinic
state: Minnesota
Study officials:
affiliation: Mayo Clinic
name: Susanne M. Cutshall, R.N., C.N.S.
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
affiliation: Mayo Clinic
name: Brent A. Bauer, M.D.
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References:
citation: Cutshall SM, Wentworth LJ, Wahner-Roedler DL, Vincent A, Schmidt JE, Loehrer LL, Cha SS, Bauer BA. Evaluation of a biofeedback-assisted meditation program as a stress management tool for hospital nurses: a pilot study. Explore (NY). 2011 Mar-Apr;7(2):110-2. doi: 10.1016/j.explore.2010.12.004.