Brief meditation and acute stress in undergraduate nursing students: a pre-post study of an embedded wellness intervention.

OBJECTIVE

This study examined whether brief Sahaja Yoga Meditation (SYM) was associated with changes in perceived stress and resilience, and whether observed changes were robust across analytic samples.

PARTICIPANTS

First- and second-semester undergraduate nursing students at a private U.S. health sciences university (January-May 2026).

METHODS

Single-group pre-post intervention study. Twenty-minute SYM sessions were delivered in-person and virtually. Resilience was measured via the Brief Resilience Scale and perceived stress via a single-item 0-10 scale.

RESULTS

Across 84 participants (99 sessions), perceived stress declined sharply (mean reduction 2.33 points; d = -1.42, p < .001), while trait resilience was unchanged (d = +0.12, p = .281). The stress reduction was consistent across nested samples and demographic subgroups.

CONCLUSIONS

Brief, embedded SYM was associated with substantial within-session reductions in acute perceived stress, though trait resilience was unchanged over a single session. Controlled trials are needed to establish causal efficacy.