Hatha Yoganın Stres, Yaşam Doyumu ve Yaşam Kalitesi Üzerine Etkisi

Abstract

The ultimate goal of yoga is to achieve peace by providing unity in mind and spirit. Therefore, it offers important opportunities to improve stress management and quality of life. This quasi-experimental study with pretest-posttest control group design aims to examine the effects of eight weeks of Hatha yoga on stress, life satisfaction and quality of life in student nurses. A total of 40 student nurses, including 22 in the experimental group and 18 in the control group, participated in the study. The data were collected using a descriptive information form, the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS-21), the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS), and the 12-Item Short Form Health Survey (SF-12). Fisher's exact test was used to compare the descriptive characteristics of those in the experimental and control groups, and the Wilcoxon signed-rank test to compare the pre- and post-test results. After Hatha yoga, stress scores of those in the experimental group decreased significantly (p=0.001), and their life satisfaction scores (p=0.006), physical dimension of quality-of-life scores (p=0.014), and mental dimension of quality-of-life scores (p=0.012) increased significantly. However, there was no significant difference for those in the control group during the same period (p>0.050). These results suggest that Hatha yoga is an effective method to improve stress management, life satisfaction and quality of life among student nurses. It is recommended to conduct further studies with larger samples, including follow-up measurements.