The association of mindfulness with professional quality of life and negative emotional states among critical care nurses during COVID-19 pandemic.

Background: The recent coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has imposed severe psychological pressure on nurses. Mindfulness has been shown to be effective in improving professional quality of life (ProQOL) and reducing psychological distress in a wide range of populations and contexts. However, its role in supporting critical care nurses during the outbreak of COVID-19 has yet to be established.

Purpose: This study explores the relationship of mindfulness with negative emotional states and ProQOL among nurses working in critical care units during COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive correlational design was used. A sample of 156 critical care nurses completed self-reported measures of mindfulness, ProQOL, and negative emotional states. Multiple regressions were used to address the study purpose.

Results: Overall, the participants had severe anxiety, moderate depression, moderate stress, moderate burnout, moderate secondary traumatic stress, and moderate compassion satisfaction. Mindfulness was significantly and negatively associated with stress (r = - 0.230, p = .004), depression (r = - 0.190, p = .018), burnout (r = - 0.218, p = .007), and secondary traumatic stress (r = - 0.168, p = .037). Mindfulness explained 3% of the variance in depression (B = -0.19, p = .018), 3.9% of variance in stress, (B = -0.201, p = .012), 4.2% of variance in BO (B = -0.206, p = .009), and 2.2% of the variance in secondary traumatic stress (B = -0.168, t = -2.104, p = .037), controlling for demographics.

Conclusions: The current study provides preliminary evidence that mindfulness can be helpful in reducing critical care nurses' psychological distress and promoting their ProQOL, and is worthy of further investigation in this population.