The Impacts of Perceived Stress and Self-compassion on Quality of Life of Nursing Students

Purpose: This study was conducted to determine the impacts of perceived stress and self-compassion on the quality of life of nursing students. Methods: Data were collected from 180 nursing students between 11 October and 26 October 2018 from a college in A city. A total of 157 questionnaires were analyzed using descriptive statistics, t-tests, a one-way ANOVA, Pearson correlation, and stepwise multiple regression. Results: The findings show that perceived stress had a significant negative correlation with quality of life (r=-.73, p<.001). However, self-compassion showed a significant positive correlation with quality of life (r=.66, p<.001). The factors influencing quality of life included perceived stress, self-compassion, state of health, and satisfaction with school life, with perceived stress being the most influential factor (β=-.42), followed by self-compassion (β=.30), which together had an explanatory power of 64.0%. Moreover, there was a mediating effect of self-compassion in the relationship between perceived stress and quality of life. Conclusion: The results of this study indicate that nursing college students should search for ways to reduce their perceived stress as well as increase self-compassion with meditation programs in order to improve their quality of life.