Using Mindful Practices to Support Capacity for Empathy and Compassion Among Senior Undergraduate Health and Social Services Students: A Mixed Methods Study

Abstract

As part of their undergraduate education, students in health and social service disciplines learn about empathy and compassion to help prepare them for therapeutic encounters in clinical-professional settings. In this mixed methods study, we engaged senior undergraduate students (n=25) in mindful practices to further support their development of qualities associated with empathy and compassion for self and others. In Winter and Fall semesters of 2021, students participated in a three-part virtual workshop-series on mindful practices and were asked to engage in brief daily mindful activities, with optional bi-weekly check-ins with the research team. We evaluated the impact of mindful practices on wellbeing, self-compassion, mindfulness, and empathy using four established measures, and gathered qualitative data to explore participant experiences of mindful practices. Statistically significant improvements were found in self-compassion (p = 0.03) and curiosity (mindfulness) (p = 0.02) after participating in the intervention. Participants highlighted the value of mindful self-compassion in mitigating anxiety and stress, aggravated by the pandemic. Four key themes emerged: facing difficulty, developing present-moment awareness, increasing self-compassion, and growing empathy for others. Participants reported enjoying a sense of shared humanity with other participants, not being alone in facing difficulties, and the impact of this on developing empathy for others, which they recognized as a complex, yet needed quality. Thus, effects on empathy toward others were mixed. The experience of the pandemic affected both the implementation of the study and the participants themselves. Progressively decreasing levels of engagement, coupled with high degrees of stress and limited opportunities to attend clinical-professional practice settings, shaped participant experiences with mindful practices. Further research could build on this work by exploring the ways in which mindful practices could further strengthen future practitioners’ capacity for empathy toward others.