Factors Associated With Well-being and Confidence in Providing Compassionate Care

Abstract

We explored the relationships between potentially modifiable factors (mindfulness and self-compassion), intermediate factors (resilience and stress), and outcomes of interest in a cross-sectional study of medical trainees (compassionate care and clinician well-being). Among the 12 participants, the average age was 27.6 years. Mindfulness and self-compassion were positively associated with confidence in providing calm, compassionate care ( r = 0.91 and 0.81, respectively; P < .01); they were also positively correlated with clinician resilience ( P < .01), which was correlated with clinician mental health ( r = 0.83; P < .01). Perceived stress was strongly and significantly negatively correlated with all measures ( rs ranging from –0.62 for flourishing to –0.92 for confidence in delivering calm, compassionate care; P < .05 for all correlations). Given the positive correlations between mindfulness and self-compassion with both clinician well-being and confidence in providing calm, compassionate care, interventional studies are warranted to determine what kind of training most efficiently and effectively improves trainee mindfulness and self-compassion.