Evaluating Well-being Retreats for Nursing Students
The Center for Survey Research (CSR) collaborated with University of Virginia’s Compassionate Care Initiative (CCI) to explore the immediate and 30-day impact of wellness retreats, which support self-care and self-compassion, in nursing curricula. CCI deployed the retreats throughout the year to nursing students and CSR aided in the analysis of surveys conducted before and after the retreat. The results were shared at the 7th National Summit for Building Health Academic Communities and are available to download below.
Methods
In the Fall of 2024, CCI conducted 11 retreats for 229 nursing students. The retreats were three or six hours. The retreats were facilitated by nurses and clinicians who are also meditation and/or movement instructors. Nursing students learned about self-care strategies such as mindfulness, movement, reflective writing, among other concepts. Nursing students completed a pre-retreat survey, a post-retreat survey, and a final survey 30 days later.
Result Highlights
- There was a steady increase at all three time points in self-compassion among nursing students.
- Average levels of mindfulness and compassion towards others increased slightly immediately after the retreat, but did not increase at the 30-day mark.
CCI and CSR plan to continue collaborations to enhance the impact of future retreats.