The impact of mindfulness training on supportive communication, emotional intelligence, and human caring among nursing students

Purpose This study was aimed to investigate the impact of mindfulness training on supportive communication and human caring ability among nursing students. Design and Methods Sixty nursing students were randomly divided into the mindfulness group who accepted 8-week mindfulness training and the control group who attended two 2-h lectures about mindfulness in 8 weeks. All of them completed the Supporting Communication Scale (SCS), Emotional Intelligence Scale (EIS), and Caring Ability Inventory (CAI) before training (T1), after it (T2), and at 3-month follow-up (T3). Findings The mindfulness group showed higher scores on SCS, EIS, and CAI than the control group at both T2 and T3, and improvements in emotional intelligence partially mediated the training effects on supportive communication. Practice Implications Mindfulness training could be applied to improve the abilities of communication and human caring during nursing education.