research appraisal 2.docx - 1 Running head A randomized controlled trial of a web-based stress management program for nurses Principles of Research in

1 Running head: A randomized controlled trial of a web-based stress management program for nurses Principles of Research in Nursing The University of Texas at Arlington NURS 5366 02/01/2020

2 Running Introduction Nurses have been found to experience higher levels of stress-related burnout compared to other health care professionals. Many studies showed that both job satisfaction and burnout are the effects of exposure to stressful working environments, which leads to poor health, especially among nurses compared to other health professionals because of the nature of their work. High levels of burnout among nurses are due to the prolonged direct personal contact of an emotional nature with a large number of people/patients. The primary purpose of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of the web-based BREATHE: Stress Management for Nurses program. To address this issue, there is now accumulating evidence that web-based programs can be effective approaches to workforce health promotion and disease prevention (Rothert et al., 2006). Population, sample, and setting The population will be 104 nurses from five hospitals from Virginia and one hospital from New York. A randomized trial will be conducted to measure perceived nursing-related stress. Participants ranged from age from 22 to 65. We included currently employed individuals, ≥22years to 65 with scores of ≥22 on the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10), who had internet access. We excluded the population who reported to have been diagnosed with psychosis or dissociative symptoms in the past, showed a notable suicidal risk as indicated by a score >1 on Becks Depression Inventory (BDI). One hundred seventeen nurses were contacted for initial recruitment, and a link was sent for an online survey, on a total of 117 participants 105 completed the baseline survey. One participant withdrew herself, which leads to a sample size of 104 participants.