Evaluation of the effects of heartfulness self development program on the internal mental health of nursing students- a prospective observational study

Objective: To evaluate the effects of 24-week Heartfullness meditation Self-development program’ in improving internal mental health of nursing students. Methodology: The study was designed as a prospective interventional study to examine the effect of meditation on internal mental health parameters such as Psychological stability, Moral reasoning, Self Efficiency and Positive attitude. The data was collected from students of four year undergraduate nursing program in a private hospital in Chennai, Tamilnadu, India before and after a 24- week Heart fullness Meditation self-development program. Data were obtained using the Internal Mental Health Quality of Life Questionnaire 2004-2015 Phillip W. Long, M.D. Results: Data from 174 students was collected and analyzed using SPSS version 21. There was a significant overall increase in the Internal mental health of nursing students post intervention [P < 0.000*]. This improvement persisted even in the subgroup analysis based on academic year and family background. Conclusion: The outcome of this interventional study demonstrated positive effects of Heartfulness meditation in improving Internal Mental Health of nursing students. This improvement was greatest in first year students and in students coming from a joint family system, who actually had a poor internal mental health at baseline assessment compared with others. Elimination of disturbing thoughts and negative tendencies by ‘Heartfulness cleaning’ and creation of internal peace and calmness by ‘Heartfulness meditation’ combined with the coaching on personality development appear to be the essential factors behind this transformation.