The Impact of a Stress Management Program on the Stress Response of Nurses in Neonatal Intensive Care Units: A Quasi-Experimental Study

This study was conducted with the aim to determine the effect of a stress management program on the response to stress by nurses working in neonatal intensive care units. This quasi-experimental study was conducted on 70 nurses in Iran. The nurses were assigned to the 2 groups: experimental and control groups, with each group comprising 35 participants. The McNamara education program was used for nurses in the experimental group. The response to stress in both groups was reviewed pre-and postintervention and 8 weeks after the intervention using the Stress Response Inventory. The 2 groups had no significant differences in terms of stress response preintervention (t = 0.668, P =.506). The mean scores in the experimental group were higher preintervention than those obtained postintervention, and the difference between them was significant. These findings indicate that the program has led to stress reduction in the experimental group. © 2019 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc