The Evaluation of Four Mind/Body Intervention Strategies to Reduce Perceived Stress among College Students.

Abstract

Although attending college or university can be a time of great excitement and personal growth, the challenges of balancing academic pressures, personal issues, time management, and dealing with the social pressures of their newfound freedom can lead to stress related problems for students (Dyson & INTRODUCTION Subjects Upon receiving ethics approval from the institution’s Ethics Review Board, research participants were solicited through e-mails sent out to all registered students; through flyers distributed on campus, through classroom visits, and via posted banners in highly visible locations. Eligible participants needed to be b h f 18 65 il bl d i kl h i i Renk, 2006; Misra, McKean, West & Russo, 2000). Studies on the college student population have found an impact of stress on anxiety and depression (Sergin, 1999), suicidal tendencies and hopelessness (Dixon et al., 1992) and various health-related issues such as headaches and sleep disturbances (Ginsberg, 2007). Collectively, the findings paint a dramatic picture as to the nature, extent and potential impact of stress on college students. An effective approach to coping and managing one’s stress in college/university populations is not only called for but a social responsibility on behalf of such institutions as etween t e ages o , ava a e to atten s x wee y oneour ntervent ons sessions and complete the pre/post-assessment package. Participants received a $25 honorarium for participating in at least four of the six intervention sessions and completing the preand post-assessment. Using a random numbers table, 91 participants were randomly assigned to one of the four interventions or to the control condition. In total, 71 (78%) of the original participants completed at least four sessions and the pre/post assessments. Of those who completed all aspects of the study, 56 (78.9%) were female and 15 (21.1%) were male.