Mindfulness for academic stress reduction in dental students

Herrera-Plasencia P.M.; Becerra-Atoche E.G. · Revista Cubana de Medicina Militar (2025)

Resumen

Introduction: Academic stress is a circumstance experienced by dental students due to the demands inherent in their theoretical and clinical training. Its persistence can have an impact on their physical and emotional well-being. Objective: To analyze the effect of interventions based on Mindfulness to reduce academic stress in dental students. Methods: A systematic literature review was carried out following the PRISMA 2020 guidelines. Studies published in English between 2015 and 2024 were included, extracted from the Web of Science, Scopus, PubMed, EBSCOhost, ProQuest databases and the Google Scholar search engine. Initially, 1751 articles were identified, of which only 5 met the established eligibility criteria. Boolean operators AND, OR and NOT were used for the search strategy to optimize the precision and relevance of the results. Results: The studies included different methodological approaches: randomized controlled trials, mixed and longitudinal designs. Interventions ranged from mindfulness-based meditation and hybrid programs to self-care strategies. The results demonstrated a significant reduction in stress, as well as improvements in psychological health and coping strategies. Meditation stood out for its impact on emotional regulation in high academic demand contexts. Conclusions: Mindfulness-based interventions are effective tools for reducing stress and improving the emotional well-being of dental students. The format, duration and structure of the interventions are crucial to their effectiveness.

Instituciones: Universidad César Vallejo