Assessment: Research Plan
Topic: The effectiveness of Mindfulness- Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) Programs in Reducing Burnout and Occupational Stress among Registered Nurses in Hospital Settings
RATIONALE
The reason for selecting this topic is to understand the way mindfulness approach helps in minimising burnout among nurses, while it also belongs to own interest. Also this topic concerns with depth analysis which helps in improvising research skills in exploring the ways MBSR promotes wellness among nursing staff.
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BACKGROUND
According to Talebiazar et al, (2025), MBSR based programs boosts resilience and job satisfaction. It contributes to better patient care. Authors conducted quantitative study where SPSS version 21 has been used to understand MBSR role in enhancing job satisfaction among staff. While this study also highlighted the role of MBSR in promoting work life balance among nursing staff. However, Alharbi et al, (2025) argued that Mindfulness based interventions are found efficient in reducing burnout among ICU nurses. Thematic analysis had been done in Article 2 to recognise the benefit of MBSR in minimising burnout situation among ICU nurses.
It further suggests that MBSR based programs assists nurses in developing coping skills to combat stress. Further, Sos and Melton, (2025) analysed that Mindfulness are proven to reduce feelings of occupational burnout and stress among healthcare workers. It also explained about how quarterly conduct of these programs helps nurses in achieving work satisfaction. Qualitative analysis had been undertaken to acknowledge the significance of MBSR program in developing resilience among nurses to combat occupation stress.
Further, the similarity found between the articles in relation to Mindfulness based intervention and its role in minimising stress among healthcare staff who are at frontline in providing efficient care to patient. However, the gap identified in terms of lack of response in type of mindfulness based programs. As, other studies has emphasized on the relationship between MBSR’s programs and nurses wellbeing.
Further, other studies highlighted the MBSR’s significance in the context of ICU nurses and its applicability within healthcare. Therefore, present study has aimed for bridging this gap identified in previous study in terms of lack of clear response about type of MBSR programs and its level of effectiveness in minimising nurse’s burnout and occupational stress (Alkhawaldeh et al, 2024). Additionally, previous studies have not specified MBSR’s effectiveness specifically on registered nurses. Therefore, this research has aimed for analysing MBSR’s effectiveness in the case of registered nurses.
Understanding previous research findings and evaluating clinical evidence are important aspects of Evidence Based Nursing Assignment Help, particularly when exploring interventions to improve nurses' wellbeing
AIM AND OBJECTIVES
Aim:
The aim behind conducting current study is to analyse the effectiveness of mindfulness based stress reduction programs in the context of minimising burnout and occupational stress in the registered nurses of Austin.
Objectives
- To acknowledge the situation which cause occupational stress and burnout situation for registered nurses.
- To understand the role of MBSR programs in addressing burnout and stressful factors of nurses in Austin
- To determine the extent to which MBSR enhances self-compassion level within nurses.
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
P: Registered nurses facing intense burnout and occupational stress situation
I: How effective is participation in a mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) program
C: Compared with no intervention or usual care
O: Reducing occupational stress and burnout symptoms
PICO framework offers better guidance for the whole research project by categorising problem in different segment. It also helps in ensuring clarity in research questions that minimises design biases in research.
METHODOLOGY
Research design
A research design is blueprint of research that aims for answering formulated research questions. This step by step plan helps in organising research data that supports drawn of study’s conclusion. It can be done in several ways including experimental, observational and survey (Bagasi et al, 2025). To develop better understanding in research topic survey design method is been used to gather response of participants involved in MBSR based programs. The reason for opting this designing method because of its relevance in collecting reliable information to understand cause and potential impact of MBSR programs in addressing nurse’s burnout and stressful situation.
Study population
In research population can be selected through intuitive sampling process to select a sample size that provides valuable insights about topic. Therefore, random sampling is being utilised to select registered nurses from Austin hospital to understand their viewpoint about MBSR program and its effectiveness in their stress and burnout reduction. Reason for selecting this approach because of its simplicity and have low risk of mistakes (Araújo et al 2024). LinkedIn and email method is utilised to recruit participants for the research project. Moreover, these are the growing platforms and provide greater accessibility to reach professional populations. Participants (registered nurses) of age 20-45 have been selected because at these age people are more likely to face challenge in maintaining balance in personal and professional life. Participants who were in the field work were excluded because of their strong commitment.
Sample size
The number of participants selected for the research is 25 registered nurses of age 20-45 from Austin hospital. This sample size is being selected to obtain their views over MBSR and its effectiveness on their stress and burnout reduction. Version used includes COPSOQ (Copenhagen psychosocial questionnaire) to assess the psychosocial factors at work including staff stress, wellbeing and other personality factor. Moreover, concerned version offers high reliability in the research context.
Study setting
The location being used in research is Melbourne Australia, since Austin hospital located in Heidelberg, a suburb of Melbourne. Also this location is selected to provide travel convenience to the participants so that it saves their crucial time. Study setting is set to identify the greater prevalence of burnout and occupational stress among nurses and recognising benefit of MBSR in enhancing nurse’s wellbeing within the hospital settings. This context has been set because there are few studies conducted over nurse’s wellbeing through MBSR programs. Therefore, this study aims to bridge the gap.
Data collection procedures
Data collection is the process of gathering relevant information for answering the formulated research questions. It can be done in two ways including primary and secondary. In primary data is being gathered from primary sources including questionnaire (survey), interview and focus group observation. To better response to the research question, primary method such as survey via questionnaire is being selected because of its reliability (Sun et al 2024). Further, questionnaire helps in understanding what kind of situation put stress on nurses and how well MBSR is minimising it. In addition to this, secondary data is subjected to be gathered from already existing sources including websites, journals, articles etc. For the secondary data, scholarly articles have been selected to organise study data in form of literature to understand the key points of MBSR and its role in nursing burnout reduction. Only those articles are included that published in the recent 5 years range and published on authentic websites. While, articles presented in other languages other than English are being excluded. Standard protocols followed includes privacy act 1988 to protect privacy of participants involved in research (Ag. Gov. Au, 2024).
Instrument used
The instrument used in research is questionnaire to understand the stressor and burnout faced by the registered nurses. Medical questionnaire has prepared from PubMed academic database sources to prepare range of question to collect data from selected participants. Likert scale specific criteria have been used in research to understand the level of agreement and disagreement of respondents to the research questions asked. This particular version is used because of its readiness in providing simpler data that can be easily analysed to achieve objectives of research.
Data analysis
Data analysis in research plays a vital role in processing collected data to uncover information to address research questions. For better reliability and timeliness data was analysed using SPSS statistical method (Shoker et al 2024). This method is being used because of its fast and errorless response in providing data to recognise MBSR programs intervention in nurse’s burnout and stress reduction. IBM’s SPSS software has been used due to its advanced analytics and thorough investigation on data to understand the way MBSR programs can be set to promote wellbeing of nursing staff. Due to time limitedness only SPSS is used and any other data transformation has not been utilised for study.
Ethical consideration
Ethics are crucial in research to call it credible and validated. The researcher has followed all ethics to avoid any issues related to informed consent, confidentiality and data protection. Researcher has prior informed hospital and selected respondents about study and obtained their informed consent over it. Further, scholar have followed privacy act 1988 to protect all participants and have maintained confidentiality of their personal information given during survey (Mohsen Almutairi et al 2024). Likewise, researcher had ensured to provide a psychological safer environment to all participants that empowers them to remain confident because of secured criteria taken by researcher to protect their personal data. Additionally, researcher has sought consent from scholars for using their articles in research.
Overall, these methods has been used and have well responded to research questions.
Conclusion
It has been articulated that MBSR programs have greater level influence over nurse burnout and occupational reduction. Research implication indicates that these programs are subjected to develop resilience, mindfulness practice and coping skills in nurses to navigate all work related challenges and achieve balance in personal and professional life.
References
- Alharbi, B. A. A., & McKenna, N. (2025). A systematic review of mindfulness-based interventions to reduce ICU nurse burnout: global evidence and thematic synthesis. BMC nursing, 24(1), 927. < https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12912-025-03507-w>
- Alkhawaldeh, J. F. M., Khawaldeh, M. A., Mrayyan, M. T., Yehia, D., Shudifat, R. M., Anshasi, H. A., ... & Aqel, A. (2024). The efficacy of mindfulness‐based programs in reducing anxiety among nurses in hospital settings: A systematic review. Worldviews on Evidence‐Based Nursing, 21(4), 395-406.< https://sigmapubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/wvn.12722>
- Araújo, D., Bártolo, A., Fernandes, C., Pereira, A., & Monteiro, S. (2024). Intervention Programs Targeting Burnout in Health Professionals: A Systematic Review. Iranian journal of public health, 53(5), 997. < https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11188645/>
- Bagasi, A., Al Harbi, E. K., Alabbasi, S. M., Alqaedi, R. O., Alharbi, B. A., & Alhomaid, T. A. (2025). Effectiveness of Workplace Mental Health Programs in Reducing Occupational Burnout: A Systematic Review. Cureus, 17(7).< https://assets.cureus.com/uploads/review_article/pdf/391388/20250824-596818-xk87c6.pdf>
- Mohsen Almutairi, S. J., Almutiri, E. H., Abdullah Hamoud, A. H., Al-Qahtani, N. S., Alyami, J. A., Alshehri, R. Z., ... & Ibrahim Aljezani, G. A. (2024). The Impact of Mindfulness-Based Interventions on Stress and Anxiety Among Nurses. Journal of International Crisis & Risk Communication Research (JICRCR), 7. < https://openurl.ebsco.com/EPDB%3Agcd%3A9%3A17553241/detailv2?sid=ebsco%3Aplink%3Ascholar&id=ebsco%3Agcd%3A182071159&crl=c&link_origin=scholar.google.com>
- Shoker, D., Desmet, L., Ledoux, N., & Héron, A. (2024). Effects of standardized mindfulness programs on burnout: a systematic review and original analysis from randomized controlled trials. Frontiers in public health, 12, 1381373. < https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/public-health/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2024.1381373/full>
- Sos, T., & Melton, B. (2025). A Qualitative Analysis of a Mindfulness-Based Stress Management Program to Reduce Stress and Burnout for Health Care Staff. Holistic Nursing Practice, 39(1), 25-31. < https://journals.lww.com/hnpjournal/abstract/2025/01000/a_qualitative_analysis_of_a_mindfulness_based.5.aspx?context=latestarticles>
- Sun, W., Yuan, Y., Wang, Y., Shao, Y., Zeng, D., & Peng, Y. (2024). Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms, emotional exhaustion and coping styles of Emergency Nurses: A Randomized Clinical Trial. Authorea Preprints.< https://www.authorea.com/doi/full/10.22541/au.171123549.94772229>
- Talebiazar, N., Anzali, B. C., Abbasi, M., Azizi, N., Goli, R., Faraji, N., ... & Kazemi, S. (2025). Does mindfulness-based stress reduction training have an impact on the occupational burnout and stress experienced by nurses? A randomized controlled trial. International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health, 98(1), 1-11. < https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00420-024-02078-8>
- Ag. Gov. Au, 2024. Privacy act 1988. [Online]. Available through: < https://www.ag.gov.au/rights-and-protections/privacy>
