An experimental prospective study on effectiveness of brief heartfulness-based start ‘U’p program on anxiety and perceived stress in allied health students

Authors

Sanjana T. Philip¹ , Jayaram Thimmapuram² , Himanshu Gupta¹ , Tahreem Hussain Fatima¹ , Subodh Rahate¹ , Neelam Yeram³ , Kapil Thakur⁴ , Mansee Thakur⁵

1. Department of Medical Biotechnology, CRL, Mahatma Gandhi Mission School of Biomedical Sciences
2. Internal Medicine Department, Well Span York Hospital, York, Pennsylvania, United States
3. Department of Medical Biochemistry, MGM Medical College, MGMSBS
4. SRCM Heartfulness Meditation Centre, Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
5. Department of Medical Biotechnology & HFN Trainer, MGMSBS, MGMIHS, Kamothe, Navi Mumbai

Conference / event

International Conference-Integrative Approach to Health and Wellbeing, December 2022 (Hyderabad, India)

Poster summary

Allied health professionals (AHP) are vital in healthcare, along with doctors and nurses to provide comprehensive care. Prioritizing their mental health is crucial. Heartfulness meditation transcends individual consciousness through simple heart-based practices. This study addresses the research gap in AHPs' well-being, as previous studies focused on doctors, nurses, and medical students. It evaluates the effectiveness of a short Heartfulness-Based Start 'U'p Program in reducing anxiety and perceived stress among AH students in of MGMSBS, MGMIHS, Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. Results show improved anxiety and perceived stress post-intervention. Anxiety scores dropped by an average of 2.91 points, and perceived stress scores by 1.61 points. Mindfulness, particularly nonjudging, increased significantly by 2.1 points (p ≤ 0.05). Our results indicate that heartfulness meditation practice offers an accessible and efficient method by which students’ anxiety and stress can be improved. This may also improve their engagement in learning-oriented approaches and class activities.

Keywords

Beck anxiety inventory (BAI), Education, Five facet mindfulness questionnaire (FFMQ), Heartfulness meditation, Perceived stress scale (PSS), Start ‘U’p

Research areas

Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, Education

References

1. Ngasa SN, Sama CB, Dzekem BS, et al. Prevalence and factors associated with depression among medical students in Cameroon: a cross-sectional study. BMC Psychiatry. 2017;17(1). doi:10.1186/s12888-017-1382-3.
2. Sarkar S, Gupta R, Menon V. A systematic review of depression, anxiety, and stress among medical students in India. J Ment Health Hum Behav, 2017; 22(2): 88–96.
3. Vizheh M, Qorbani M, Arzaghi SM, Muhidin S, Javanmard Z, Esmaeili M. The Mental Health of Healthcare Workers in the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Systematic Review. Journal of Diabetes & Metabolic Disorders. 2020;19(2):1967-1978. doi:10.1007/s40200-020-00643-9.
4. Tacón AM, McComb J, Caldera Y, Randolph P. Mindfulness Meditation, Anxiety Reduction, and Heart Disease. Family & Community Health. 2003;26(1):25-33. doi:10.1097/00003727-200301000 00004.
5. Patel KD, Pollock J. The Heartfulness Way. Westland; 2018.

Funding

No data provided

Supplemental files

No data provided

Additional information

Competing interests

No competing interests were disclosed.

Data availability statement

The datasets generated during and / or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Creative Commons license

Copyright © 2023 T. Philip et al. This is an open access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.