Adolescent Stress Reduction

Saturday, April 25, 2015
Linda C. Summers, PhD, RN, FNP, AMHNP , School of Nursing, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM
Conni DeBlieck, DNP, MSN, RN , School of Nursing, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM
Anita C Reinhardt, PhD, RN , School of Nursing, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM
Stephanie Lynch, PhD, RN, FNP, MHNP , School of Nursing, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM
Pamela N. Schultz, PhD, RN , School of Nursing, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM
Significance: Schools are now the primary providers of mental health services for many adolescents. School nurses are often the onsite providers of behavioral health emergencies management.  Behavioral health emergency management is defined as the initial action undertaken by the school nurse, which triaged, assesses, stabilizes and treats an urgent or emergent behavioral health problem.

 

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to compare the efficacy of the SleepWingTM to the EnergyPodTM for decreasing stress and agitation in adolescents in the School Based Health Centers (SBHC).  The EnergyPodTM is a device that provides a semi private acoustical and visual environment for rest, stress reduction and sleep. The SleepWingTM is a smaller device, which claimed to offer the same benefits at much reduced cost.

 

Procedures: The study design was a quasi-experimental randomized controlled research of a convenience sample of adolescent students who were offered a technical intervention for agitation, anxiety, fatigue, irritability, and/or stress. A randomized convenience sample of 100 students between the ages of 14 to 19 was asked to participate in the study. The students were seen in the school based health clinics (SBHC) of four high schools in border communities of a southwest state of the United States. The students were screened by a healthcare provider in the SBHC based on inclusion criteria of agitation, anxiety, fatigue, irritability, and/or stress then if agreeable, were referred to the clinic coordinator for random assignment to the study intervention, the EnergyPod™ or SleepWing™.  The participants were asked to complete the pre and post Profile of Mood States-Short Form (POMS-SF).  The POMS-SF™ investigations has shown it is a “predictive and construct validity of the 6 POMS™ subscales measuring anxiety, depression, anger, confusion, vigor, and fatigue, and the POMSTM Total Mood Disturbance (TMD) score in different patient and subject populations.

Findings:  There was no significant difference between the four high schools by sex, ethnicity, and/or age or Post-intervention Total Mood Disturbance TMD scores or any of the TMD subscales by on the POMS 30 short form. No significant difference Pre-intervention TMD score (t = -.0288, df 83, p = 0.77) or TMD subscales between participants who used the EnergyPod™ or the SleepWing™. No significance difference in Post-intervention TMD scores between participants in the EnergyPodTM or the SleepWingTM (t= -0.568, df 87, p = 0.57).  There was a statistically significant improvement in mood after being in the EnergyPod™ or SleepWing™ (t =10.24 (75), p < .0001). The significant difference in the scores was the improvement between pre and post POMS-SF™ scale scores and TMD scales after using either stress reducing device and all were significantly different.

 

Conclusions:  The study suggests preventive benefits in high school students, and psychosocial well-being.  All participants in the study improved their mood after being in either therapeutic intervention.  The lower cost intervention provided preventive benefits in high school students and improved psychosocial well-being. The objective evidence shows a lowers stress and agitation in adolescents and they were able to return to class.

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