A randomized controlled trial of the effects of brief mindfulness meditation on anxiety symptoms and systolic blood pressure in Chinese nursing students. 


Author: Chen Y, Yang X, Wang L, Zhang X.

Affiliation: School of Nursing, Southern Medical University, 1838 North Guangzhou Avenue, Guangzhou, Guangdong province 510515, China. Electronic address: truelife2010@126.com. 
Conference/Journal: Nurse Educ Today. 
Date published: 2012 Dec 19
Other:
  Pages: S0260-6917(12)00387-5   ,  Special Notes: doi: 10.1016/j.nedt.2012.11.014   ,  Word Count: 274  
    BACKGROUND:

Previous studies suggested that mindfulness meditation effectively reduced stress-related anxiety and depression symptoms, but no research has evaluated the efficacy of mindfulness meditation in nurses and nursing students in China.

OBJECTIVES:

To evaluate the effects of brief mindfulness meditation on the anxiety and depression symptoms and autonomic nervous system activity in Chinese nursing students.

DESIGN:

A randomized controlled trial.

SETTING:

A medical university in Guangzhou, China.

PARTICIPANTS:

One hundred and five nursing students were randomly approached by email and seventy-two responded. Sixty recruited students were randomized into meditation and control group (n=30 each) after screening and exclusion due to factors known to influence mood ratings and autonomic nervous system measures.

METHODS:

The meditation group performed mindfulness meditation 30min daily for 7 consecutive days. The control group received no intervention except pre-post treatment measurements. The Self-Rating Anxiety Scale and Self-Rating Depression Scale were administered to participants, and heart rate and blood pressure were measured. Pre- and post-treatment data were analyzed using repeated-measures analysis of variance.

RESULTS:

Differences between pre- and post-treatment Self-Rating Anxiety Scale scores were significantly larger in the meditation group than in the control group, but no similar effect was observed for Self-Rating Depression Scale scores. Systolic blood pressure was reduced more after the intervention in the meditation group than in the control group, with an average reduction of 2.2mmHg. A moderate level of anxiety was associated with the maximum meditation effect.

CONCLUSIONS:

Brief mindfulness meditation was beneficial for Chinese nursing students in reducing anxiety symptoms and lowering systolic blood pressure. Individuals with moderate anxiety are most likely to benefit from a short-term mindfulness meditation program.

Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

PMID: 23260618