Relationship of Frequent Mantram Repetition to Emotional and Spiritual Well-Being in Healthcare Workers

BACKGROUND: Healthcare workers report high levels of stress in the workplace. To determine how to reduce stress, the authors examined the effectiveness of frequently repeating a mantram (a word with spiritual meaning) on emotional and spiritual well-being. METHODS: A pretest-posttest design was used to measure stress, state/trait anxiety and anger, quality of life, and spiritual well-being in a convenience sample (N=42) of hospital workers completing a mantram intervention program. RESULTS: Significant improvements were found in stress (p < .001), trait-anxiety (p = .002), trait-anger (p = .02), quality of life (p = .001), and spiritual well-being (p = .003). When examining the effects of mantram practice, trait-anxiety and religious and spiritual well-being were significant (p < .05). CONCLUSION: Improvements in emotional and spiritual well-being may be mediated by frequent mantram repetition.