Mediating role of emotion regulation in the relationship between mindfulness and mental well-being among formal caregivers of psychiatric patients

ABSTRACT

Professional caregivers of psychiatric patients are often exposed to circumstances and environments that threaten their mental well-being in the course of carrying out their professional duties. In this study, we examined the mediating role of emotion regulation in the association between mindfulness and mental well-being among professional caregivers of psychiatric patients. Three hundred and seven professional caregivers of psychiatric patients whose ages ranged between 22 and 63 years (mean age = 39.21 years; SD = 10.09 years) participated in the study. They completed measures of mindfulness, emotion regulation and mental well-being in addition to supplying relevant demographic information. Results of mediation analysis showed that expressive suppression dimension of emotion regulation mediated the relationship between mindfulness and mental well-being. This indicates that mindfulness was associated with increased mental well-being via the pathway of reduced expressive suppression. These findings suggest that expressive suppression may represent an effective way to strengthen the link between mindfulness and mental well-being among professional caregivers and ultimately provide a means to improve their well-being.

KEYWORDS:

• Emotion regulation
• mediation
• mental well-being
• mindfulness
• caregivers
• psychiatric patients

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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.