Could Mindfulness Predict Nursing Students' Happiness? Implications for Nursing Education

Nursing students experience a highly stressful academic environment due to intensive coursework, clinical training, and emotional demands, which affect their psychological well-being. Managing these stressors is critical for their academic success and professional development.

This study aimed to report levels of mindfulness, fear of missing out (FoMO), and happiness among nursing students from Oman, and to examine the interplay among these variables considering demographic variables.

A cross-sectional design was employed, with data collected from 137 nursing students using three validated self-report tools: the Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS), the Personal Happiness Index-13 (PHI-13), and (FoMO) Scale.

Mindfulness levels differed significantly by year of study, with first-year students reporting lower mindfulness than senior students (p = .017). Students with lower GPAs also exhibited reduced mindfulness scores (p = .047). Mindfulness was significantly and negatively correlated with FoMO (r = -.426, p ≤ .01) and positively correlated with happiness (r = .354, p ≤ .01). The zero-order correlation between FoMO and happiness was negligible and non-significant (r = .026, p > .05). Hierarchical regression showed that mindfulness explained 12.6% of the variance in happiness (β = .354, p < .001); adding FoMO increased the explained variance to 16.4%, with FoMO emerging as a significant positive predictor only after mindfulness was controlled (β = .216, p = .015), consistent with a suppression effect.

Findings suggest that mindfulness is associated with lower FoMO and greater happiness among nursing students. Although mindfulness significantly predicted happiness, causality cannot be inferred due to the cross-sectional design. The results contribute to the limited literature linking mindfulness, FoMO, and happiness in professional nurse training. Integrating mindfulness training into nursing education may serve as a practical strategy to enhance mental well-being and better prepare students for the challenges of their profession.