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This pilot study explored the effects of a mindfulness meditation intervention on nurses’ perceived stress and compassion. A quasi-experimental pre-test/post-test design was used. Nurses ( n = 90) working at three university teaching hospitals completed the Perceived Stress Scale and Compassion Scale at the beginning of the training and 64 completed the scales at the end of the training. The 64 matched data sets were analysed using the t -test, chi-square test and analysis of variance. The findings indicated that the nurses’ perceived stress was significantly reduced after the intervention. Notably, compassion scores were increased after the intervention, and this finding was significant for nurses working at one of the hospitals. There were no significant differences between results from a 6-week and an 8-week mindfulness intervention. The results suggest that mindfulness meditation training can impact positively on nurses’ perceived stress and also enhance nurses’ compassion. Mindfulness may well be a suitable self-care, stress-management intervention that can effectively teach nurses coping skills to assist them in managing the daily stressors inherent in their home and work life.

The interpretation and operation of planning guidelines relating to private housing estates in Ireland, and the structures for involving residents in their management thereafter, are examined. Institutional and legislative weaknesses underlying the current approaches to estate management have created a range of governance deficits, with potentially longer-term adverse impacts for the development of a sense of local community and for the promotion of participatory democracy and civil society. Drawing on evidence from several recently constructed private housing estates, this paper explores these issues in terms of the institutional context in which planning policies are being administered and the relative position of the relevant stakeholders within this process. An open, participatory approach, that recognises residents as legitimate stakeholders in the process of managing their own estates, is strongly advocated.