Degree Name
Nursing Practice, DNP
Publication Date
8-12-2025
First Advisor
Lisa Drake
Second Advisor
Kristie Givens
Abstract
Undergraduate nursing students often experience high stress from academic rigor, clinical demands, and personal challenges, contributing to mental health concerns and increased attrition. Unmanaged stress, when met with insufficient coping strategies, may contribute to students failing, leaving, or withdrawing from a nursing program. This research project addressed the need for a structured coping strategy within the curriculum at a State College to promote student resilience and reduce stress. As a quality improvement process change, the project’s purpose was to evaluate the impact of a four-week mindfulness meditation (MM) intervention on perceived stress levels of first-semester Associate Degree in Nursing (ADN) students. Using a quasi-experimental pre-post design, the intervention was guided by the Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) model and Lazarus and Folkman’s Transactional Theory of Stress and Coping. Ten-minute MM sessions were delivered once weekly for four weeks in a classroom using free Headspace YouTube videos. Six participants completed the Perceived Stress Scale-10 (PSS-10) before and after the mindfulness meditation (MM) intervention. A paired-samples t-test revealed a statistically significant reduction in stress (t(5) = 4.20, p = .009), with mean scores decreasing from 23.00 (SD = 5.76) to 10.33 (SD = 3.78). Despite the small sample size, the results demonstrated a large effect size (Cohen’s d = 1.71) and strong statistical power (0.91). This project demonstrates the value of integrating brief, low-cost MM into nursing curricula. Findings support sustainable, evidence-informed strategies to strengthen student well-being, improve retention, and foster resilience in the future nursing workforce.
Rights Management
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Williams, Jennifer, "DNP Project: Research Study Using Mindfulness Meditation for Stress Reduction in Undergraduate Nursing Students" (2025). Doctor of Nursing Practice Projects. 144.
https://arch.astate.edu/dnp-projects/144
