Nurturing compassion and cultural humility in health professions students through a brief mindfulness practice

Objective

Given the importance of compassion and cultural humility in healthcare providers, the study aspired to investigate the effects of a brief mindfulness practice on compassion and cultural humility in health professions students.

Methods

A quantitative, one-group pre-test/post-test study was conducted with 58 participants from undergraduate health profession education programs in the United States. Participants completed questionnaires measuring mindfulness, compassion, and cultural humility before and after engaging in an eight-minute loving-kindness meditation exercise three to four times per week for two weeks.

Results

There were statistically significant increases in mindfulness, compassion, and cultural humility after participants engaged in the brief loving-kindness meditation exercise, with small to moderate effect sizes.

Conclusion

Brief mindfulness practices may be helpful for cultivating essential qualities such as compassion and cultural humility in health professions students.

Innovation

The findings add to the research gap about the effects of mindfulness on health professions students' compassion and cultural humility. Using mindfulness as a training tool in health professions education may foster compassion, cultural humility, and mindfulness in health professions students who will become healthcare providers, addressing individual health concerns but also broader social issues related to social justice and health equity.