The Relationship Between Mindful Attention Awareness and Academic Self-Efficacy Among Nursing Students: Sense of Coherence as a Mediator

BACKGROUND: Mindfulness and academic self-efficacy (ASE) are two essential tools for nursing students to deal with stress. Sense of coherence (SOC) is suggested to be the mediator of the relation between mindfulness and ASE. METHOD: This cross-sectional study included 280 undergraduate nursing students studying at a university in Saudi Arabia. They completed the questionnaires for mindfulness, SOC, and ASE, which were found to be valid and reliable. Pearson's correlation coefficient, regression, and structural equation modeling were used to analyze the data. RESULTS: A positive correlation was found among mindfulness, SOC, and ASE. Mediation analysis showed that SOC has mediated the relationship between mindfulness and ASE partially. CONCLUSION: Mindfulness can contribute to enhancing ASE directly and also indirectly through enhancement of SOC. Combining mindfulness and SOC building strategies in nursing curricula is likely to be helpful in improving nursing students' stress coping and academic performance.