Self-Care for Nurse Leaders in Acute Care Environment Reduces Perceived Stress: A Pilot Study

Nurse leaders need to possess stress management
skills to support their effective and successful management
of their patient service units. Meditation is
frequently cited within the literature as an option for
a number of workforces to cultivate being present,
and recognizing and reducing stress. Therefore, the
purpose of this study is to examine the impact of a
personal systematic meditation practice for nurse
leaders on their reported stress, mindfulness, sense
of control and self-esteem and patient satisfaction on
the nursing units they manage. The study employs a repeated measures intervention design for nurse
leaders at two sites with a mixed method integrated
approach. Focus group interviews, patient satisfaction
scores and four valid instruments are used for
data collection at baseline, week 6 and week 12; the
instruments Mindful Attention and Awareness Scale
(MAAS), Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), Rosenberg
Self-Esteem (RSE) and Locus of Control (LOC).