Coloring to Reduce Stress Among Advanced Practice Providers in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit

Abstract

Healthcare is a stressful profession. Research has shown that stress among healthcare providers can have detrimental effects to both the providers and patients, as higher stress can lead to decreased job satisfaction, high turnover, and negative patient outcomes. Furthermore, the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) is a highly stressful environment, and staff working in the NICU experience high levels of stress. Much of the research surrounding stress in healthcare involves nurses as they comprise the largest subgroup of healthcare providers. There is limited research on stress among physicians, but no research to date has focused on advanced practice providers (APPs). Many techniques for stress reduction have been described in the research, but limited studies have examined adult coloring as a technique. This paper describes a pilot study done with APPs working in the NICU to determine feasibility of completing breaks away from patient care as well as examining the utility of coloring as a stress reduction technique when compared with a break without coloring. Feasibility was achieved, and the study showed coloring sessions provided a statistically significant decrease in perceived stress scores when compared to a break session. Further research to replicate this study on a larger scale is needed to investigate coloring as a useful technique for stress reduction among health care providers.