Abstract
This capstone project explores the impact of mindfulness practice on nursing student athletes, aiming to understand how mindfulness techniques can enhance their psychological well-being. The project investigates the intersection of mindfulness and addresses the unique challenges and stressors face by nursing student athletes. The project proposals a research study that focuses on how mindfulness can impact nursing student athletes. There is literature that shows how mindfulness can improve stress and mental disorders for nursing students and student athletes separately, but there is a lack of knowledge on how this may affect nursing students who are also student athletes. Mindfulness based interventions have been shown to improve psychological well-being in both nursing students and student athletes. Nursing students have reported significant reduction in levels of stress, anxiety, and depression after practicing mindfulness (Holden & O’Connell., 2023). Moreover, student athletes have reported the same outcomes on psychological well-being (Shannon et al., 2019). Therefore, the same effects should apply to individuals who are considered nursing student athletes. The literature review of 12 research studies reveals consistent findings across both nursing students and student athletes. Because mindfulness practices show positive outcomes on mental health issues, the proposed research project outlines steps for conducting an eight modified mindfulness-based stress reduction program (MBSR) involving 20 nursing student athletes across multiple universities. Volunteer instructors will be recruited and trained to deliver consistent mindfulness sessions, while participants will engage in the sessions supplemented by daily mindfulness exercises. A control group will not receive interventions, expected outcomes for the intervention group include improved stress, anxiety, and depression.
Date of publication
Spring 4-23-2024
Document Type
MSN Capstone Project
Language
english
Persistent identifier
http://hdl.handle.net/10950/4671
Degree
Master's of Science in Nursing
Recommended Citation
Marek, Amanda A., "Stepping into Mindfulness: Enhancing Mental Health for Nursing Student Athletes" (2024). MSN Capstone Projects. Paper 332.
http://hdl.handle.net/10950/4671