Effect of Yoga on Perceived Stress and Organizational Resilience of Nurses During the COVID-19: A Randomized Clinical Trial

This study aims to determine the effectiveness of yoga exercises in reducing perceived stress and improving the organizational resilience of nurses during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This is a controlled randomized controlled trial. The study population consists of all nurses from the corona ward at Shahid Mohammadi Hospital in Bandar Abbas, southern Iran. Participants were 22 eligible nurses with the highest perceived stress scale (PSS) score who were randomly assigned to two groups of intervention (n=11) and control (n=11). The Connor-Davidson resilience scale was used to measure their organizational resilience before and after the intervention. Statistical analyses, including one-way analysis of variance and chi-square test, were conducted in SPSS software, version 20. The significance level was set at 0.05.

In the intervention group, the mean PSS score decreased and organizational resilience improved compared to the control group after yoga exercises. The difference between pre-test and post-test scores were significant (P<0.05). 

A four-week yoga intervention can significantly reduce perceived stress and improve the resilience in nurses. As an accessible and low-cost intervention, yoga can help improve the mental health of nurses and potentially increase the overall quality of health care.