Self-compassion in nursing students: a map of the evidence
An integrative review describes typical self-compassion levels and related personal characteristics, while leaving the effects of specific educational programmes unresolved.
Based on the published abstract. The full paper may contain additional methods, results and limitations.
The 30-second takeaway
The review describes moderate self-compassion among undergraduate nursing students and links it with characteristics such as resilience, optimism and perfectionism. Its authors support including self-compassion in nursing education. However, the abstract mainly maps what has been studied and does not establish that a particular teaching programme improves students' mental health or prevents burnout.
The abstract supplies no pooled estimates, follow-up periods or detailed results from teaching interventions. Its recommendation to include self-compassion in curricula cannot be read as a quantified test of that recommendation.
What self-compassion meant
The authors describe self-compassion as directing compassion toward oneself. Although the included studies used a shared definition, they examined different aspects of the topic, so agreement on terminology did not mean identical research questions.
What the review connected
Age, gender and health status appeared among factors related to self-compassion. Resilience, optimism and perfectionism were also discussed, but the abstract does not report the direction or size of each relationship or establish causation.
The original publication
Self-compassion in nursing students: An integrated review.
Barrington-Moss G, McKendrick-Calder L, von Stein D
Nurse Educ Pract · 2026
- PubMed ID
- 41442831
- Record checked
AI-assisted research and writing. This explains one selected publication; it is not a complete review of everything known. Our approach.
One more question, understood.
Keep track of the research you’ve explored.