[The New Era of Mindfulness and Compassion-Based Therapy in Developing Nurses' Self-Care].

Nurse self-care comprises three key abilities: mindfulness, self-compassion, and resilience. These abilities help nurses stay aware of body-mind-spirit distress and respond with kindness and empathy, even during adversity. Mindful self-compassion therapy, which includes mindfulness, self-compassion actions, and practices like gratitude and savoring, has been shown to reduce both occupational and compassion fatigue. Skills derived from this therapy, such as breathing exercises, body scanning, and self-compassionate language, help nurses consciously recognize work stress and take ameliorative actions.

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Abstract

The high-pressure nature of clinical nursing work and workplace environments influence how nurses perceive fatigue and their physical and mental health. Therefore, promoting self-care-related skills and capabilities has become an important issue in nursing education. The concept of nurse self-care, the content of mindful self-compassion therapy, and how to apply this therapy in nurse self-care are introduced in this article. Based on the findings of prior empirical research, the concept of self-care in the context of nurses consists of three key abilities: mindfulness, self-compassion, and resilience. These abilities emphasize promoting the ability of nurses to be aware of their body-mind-spirit distress in the present and to respond to suffering with kindness and empathy. Furthermore, resilience may be developed even while facing adversities in life. Mindful self-compassion therapy has been increasingly applied in recent years to improve body-mind well-being in healthcare professionals. This therapy includes the concepts of mindfulness and self-compassion, self-compassion actions, how self-compassion can be applied to facing emotional difficulties, and practicing gratitude and savoring life for a life happiness. Empirical research results consistently confirm that mindful self-compassion therapy can effectively reduce both occupational and compassion fatigue. Therefore, mindfulness self-compassion skills incorporated into nurses' daily lives and work have been subsequently developed based on the concepts underlying mindful self-compassion therapy. These skills help nurses be more consciously aware of the personal impact of work stress, take ameliorative actions such as breathing exercises or body scanning to trigger a physical relaxation response, and use self-compassionate language to self-support.