Iranian Journal of Medical Education

Introduction: Subjective well-being is one of the important constructs of mental health and identifying the factors affecting it is of paramount importance. Hence, the purpose of this study was to predict the subjective well-being of nursing students based on mindfulness and self-compassion.

Methods: In this descriptive-correlational study, 250 nursing students of Mahabad Islamic Azad University were selected through convenience sampling in 2015. Data collection tools included three valid and reliable scales: Molavi’s subjective well-being, Baer’s mindfulness, and Neef’s self-compassion. Data were analyzed using Pearson correlation coefficient and regression analysis.

Results: Findings showed that there was a significant positive correlation between mindfulness,   self-compassion and subjective well-being. Regression analysis indicated that the variables of mindfulness and self-compassion play a significant role in explaining the subjective well-being variance, totally predicting 31% of it. Beta coefficients obtained were (β=0.182 and p<0.0001) and (β=0.145 and p<0.0001) for mindfulness and self-compassion respectively. These findings suggest that mindfulness has a greater role in predicting nursing students’ subjective well-being.