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Purpose of the Study
Nursing stress and anxiety related to their responsibilities and workload is a common problem. A study by Maguire (2020) aims to determine the effect of coloring mandalas on reducing nurses anxiety. Consequently, the study researches a connection between mandala coloring, physical indicators such as heart rate, and mental health state of medical-surgical nurses and nursing support staff.
Research & Design
The author used a literature review, questionnaires, and pulse rate measurements to conduct the study. A review of the scientific literature was used to substantiate the research issue and its relevance. The crossover pretest-posttest included a survey of participants by using The STAI-Form Y before and after the quasi-experiment, as well as measuring the pulse with The emWave Pro biofeedback monitor (Maguire, 2020). The research had two parts, since, the first time, the participants were asked to perform their usual actions during a 20-minute break, and, the second time, they were asked to color the mandala. Thus, the researcher used A mixed-methods, crossover pretest-posttest quasi-experimental design (Maguire, 2020, p.194). This design justifies the purpose of the study because the survey showed the level of anxiety, and the measurement of the pulse indicated the physiological parameters before and after the experiment. This approach helped avoid inaccuracies if nurses had different levels of anxiety on different days and partially reduced bias in the questionnaire responses, since the pulse indicates the bodys response.
Sample
The researcher almost did not establish special criteria for the sample of participants. The only condition for participation was the position of medical-surgical nurses or nursing support staff in the hospital. As a result, 40 participants were selected 37 women and 3 men with different education and work experience levels (Maguire, 2020). Most of the participants have a bachelors degree and are middle aged registered nurses.
Data Collection
The data was collected through a survey and measurement of the physiological indicators of the respondents. For the survey, Maguire (2020) used online The STAI-Form Y to measure anxiety, and the emWave Pro biofeedback monitor was used to measure the heart rate. The main sampling methods were the voluntary invitation of nurses from the unit of one hospital, and their encouragement of other colleagues, which refer to such techniques as convenience, purposeful, and snowball sampling.
Data Analysis
Data analysis was carried out comparing the results of pretests and posttests. For this purpose, Two-tailed paired students t-tests and Cohen classifications were applied to measure effect size and p-value (Maguire, 2020).
Limitations
The studys main limitations are the small sample of respondents, self-reporting, and the lack of follow-up studies. A small sample does not allow the author to draw general conclusions, and the answers to the questionnaire may be inaccurate because the participants knew the purpose of the study. In addition, the lack of follow-up studies makes it difficult to conclude the long-term effect of coloring on anxiety.
Findings/Discussion
The main finding of the study is that mandala coloring reduces the anxiety of the nurse. Maguire (2020) has determined that coloring increases heart rate and reduces short-term anxiety. An interesting detail is that the author did not find a difference in the trait anxiety between the regular and painting mandala break (Maguire, 2020). This result is associated with calming down during coloring as a monotonous but entertaining activity.
Reading Research Literature
Reading research literature is important for expanding knowledge and applying evidence-based practices. In addition, the skill of reading such literature helps distinguish credible research from unreliable ones. Therefore, reading research literature develops professional knowledge and critical thinking. For example, this activity showed me one of the methods of dealing with anxiety and stress that I can apply in my practice.
Reference
Maguire, P. (2020). The effect of coloring mandalas on the anxiety of medical-surgical nurses and nursing support staff. MEDSURG Nursing, 29(3), 192-199.
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