An Examination of Yoga as a Stress Reduction Intervention for Nurses

• Main Author: Felker, Angela J
• Format: Dissertation
• Language: English
• Published: ProQuest Dissertations & Theses 01.01.2013
• Subjects: Occupational health; Occupational psychology; Occupational safety
• ISBN: 9781303476235; 1303476231

The purpose of this secondary data analysis was to examine the relationship between yoga and stress, burnout, and quality of life in nurses. A sample of nurses from a large public health system in Southern California participated in a 6-week yoga intervention or served as a wait-list control, completing a demographic questionnaire and scales measuring the above-mentioned variables pre- and post-intervention. Past research has indicated that the nursing profession can produce a high degree of perceived stress and burnout and decreased quality of life. Yoga has been identified as a complementary therapeutic technique designed to improve overall well-being. The proposed hypotheses were intended to address the theory that nurses engaging in a 6-week yoga intervention would report lower levels of stress and burnout and improved quality of life than would a wait-list control group. The data were analyzed using multiple regression analyses and independent samples t tests. The findings indicated that there was only a statistically significant difference on one subscale of the burnout questionnaire. Even though the main hypotheses were not supported by the results, the study may contribute to positive social changes by informing the focus of future studies examining the potential benefits of yoga as a stress reduction intervention for nurses. Given that changes on several outcomes were in the expected direction, the failure to demonstrate statistical significance may have been a function of the study's small sample size. In addition to testing such interventions with larger samples, it is also suggested that the yoga program be lengthened and home study of yoga practices be incorporated into future studies.