Background: Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) students experience an increased level of stress throughout their curriculum. Hatha Yoga is associated with stress reduction; however, no study has investigated its efficacy on DPT students' level of perceived stress.
Objective: To determine what difference Hatha Yoga has on DPT students' level of perceived stress.
Methods: A pretest/posttest quasi experimental design was utilized. Repeated measures included the Perceived Stress Scale 10-item instrument (PSS-10). The convenience sample included 22 DPT students.
Results: The intervention had a statistically significant influence on perceived stress reduction, observed by a decrease in perceived stress scores from 21.32 to 13.23 (p < 0.001).
Conclusion: Hatha Yoga is an effective strategy to reduce perceived stress in DPT students and improve wellbeing.