Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2025 Jun;22(3):e70031.
doi: 10.1111/wvn.70031.

Online and In-Person Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) Improves Stress Resilience in Nursing Education

Rebecca A Schwartz-Mette  1   2 , Maile Sapp  2 , Kelley Strout  3
Affiliations

Online and In-Person Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) Improves Stress Resilience in Nursing Education

Rebecca A Schwartz-Mette et al. Worldviews Evid Based Nurs. 2025 Jun.

Abstract

Background: Evidence-based interventions (EBI) can reduce nursing burnout and improve retention and healthcare quality. Nursing school is an ideal time to implement EBI to mitigate burnout and increase resilience in pre-professional populations.

Aim: The current study tested whether Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) significantly improved stress, burnout, and wellness in a university-based nursing school.

Methods: Using a non-randomized clinical trial design, multilevel modeling for repeated measures tested intervention effects over time in MBSR participants (n = 73) and matched controls (n = 73), as well as potential moderation of intervention effects by modality (online vs. in-person MBSR) and subpopulation (students vs. faculty/staff).

Results: MBSR effectively reduced perceived stress, exhaustion, and total burnout and increased positive affect and frequency of using two key mindfulness skills: observing and nonreactivity. No significant effects of the intervention were observed for disengagement from work, satisfaction with life, negative affect, or the mindfulness skills of describing, acting with awareness, and nonjudgment. Effects were similar across modality and subpopulation.

Linking evidence to action: MBSR increases stress resilience and can be delivered effectively online and in person. Moreover, MBSR appears equally impactful for nursing students and faculty/staff. Implications for integrating EBI into schools of nursing to improve well-being are discussed.

Keywords: burnout; faculty; mindfulness‐based stress reduction; nursing students; resilience; staff; stress; wellness.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

References

    1. American Association of Colleges of Nursing . 2021. “The Essentials: Core Competencies for Professional Nursing Education.” - PubMed
    1. American Association of Colleges of Nursing . 2024a. “Nursing Shortage Fact Sheet.” https://www.aacnnursing.org/news‐data/fact‐sheets/nursing‐shortage.
    1. American Association of Colleges of Nursing . 2024b. “New AACN Points to Enrollment Challenges Facing U.S. Schools of Nursing.” https://www.aacnnursing.org/news‐data/all‐news/new‐aacn‐data‐points‐to‐e....
    1. AMN Healthcare . 2023. “2023 AMN Healthcare Survey of Registered Nurses.”
    1. Auerbach, D. I. , Buerhaus P. I., Donelan K., and Staiger D. O.. 2022. “A Worrisome Drop in the Number of Young Nurses.” Health Affairs Forefront. https://www.healthaffairs.org/content/forefront/worrisome‐drop‐number‐yo....

LinkOut - more resources