Workplace mindfulness and clinical belongingness among nursing interns: The mediating role of subjective well-being

Background: The sense of clinical belongingness significantly impacts the mental health of undergraduate nursing interns. Workplace mindfulness and subjective well-being are considered key factors influencing clinical belonging. Currently, there is no research elucidating how workplace mindfulness and subjective well-being affect clinical belonging. 
Objectives: To explore the ways in which workplace mindfulness and subjective well-being influence clinical belonging. 
Design: A cross-sectional study. 
Methods: A cross-sectional design was used to survey 239 full-time third- and fourth-year nursing undergraduates from July 2023 to April 2024 through convenience sampling. The participants were from The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangdong Pharmaceutical University. Data were collected using demographic questionnaires, a workplace mindfulness scale, a clinical belonging scale, and a subjective well-being scale. SPSS 26.0 software was used for data analysis. 
Results: The results indicate that workplace mindfulness, subjective well-being, and clinical belongingness in undergraduate nursing interns are at moderate levels. Workplace mindfulness was significantly and positively correlated with clinical belongingness and subjective well-being (R = 0.3096, p < 0.001), with a weaker correlation between workplace mindfulness and clinical belongingness (R = 0.1444, p < 0.05). Mediation analysis revealed that subjective well-being mediates the relationship between workplace mindfulness and clinical belongingness, accounting for 25.72 % of the total effect. 
Conclusion: This study identified the ways in which workplace mindfulness and subjective well-being affect clinical belonging. It showed that subjective well-being mediates between workplace mindfulness and clinical belonging among undergraduate nursing interns.