The Effect of a Mindfulness Course on Self-Compassion Among Occupational Therapy Students

Objectives: This study examined the impact of a mandatory course teaching mindfulness skills to first-year occupational therapy (OT) students' mindfulness skills and self-compassion. The objectives were to assess: (a) the correlations between students' mindfulness and self-compassion skills before and after participating in the course; and (b) the differences in mindfulness and self-compassion skills among the OT students who completed the mindfulness course. Method: A cross-sectional, comparative, and correlation study design involved 106 first-year undergraduate OT students during three academic years, who participated in a mindfulness course. The students completed the Kentucky Inventory of Mindfulness Skills (KIMS) and the Self-Compassion Scale (SCS) before and after completing an academic semester. Results: High and significant correlations were found between mindfulness skills and self-compassion total scores before versus. after completing the course. The post-scores of all the KIMS facets, besides “Acting”, were higher than the pre-scores; these differences were found to be significant for the total score, and for “Observing” and “Accepting” subscales. Significant improvement was also found in the SCS total score, and in all SCS components besides “Common Humanity”. Conclusions: This study provides insights into the impact of a mandatory course teaching mindfulness and self-compassion skills to a large group of first-year undergraduate OT students. The results highlight the need to integrate mindfulness training into the curricula of health professions, such as OT. Practicing mindfulness and self-compassion may contribute to the personal and professional development of health profession students, as well as enhancing their ability to cope with academic pressures and challenges. Preregistration: This study is not preregistered.