title: The relationships among self-care, dispositional mindfulness, and psychological distress in medical students.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Past research suggests that medical students experience high levels of psychological distress.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The aim of the current study was to investigate the relationships among engagement in self-care behaviours, dispositional mindfulness, and psychological distress.
  
  
  METHODS
  The sample consisted of 139 female and 68 male Australian medical students (N=207) aged 17-41 years (M=21.82, SD=3.62) across the 5 years of the Monash University medical course. Participants completed an online survey comprising a demographics questionnaire, the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire, the Health-Promoting Lifestyle Profile II, and the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scales.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Results revealed significant and interpretable multivariate correlations between distress and both mindfulness and self-care. Furthermore, the dispositional mindfulness observation subscale was found to be a significant moderator of the relationship between several dimensions of self-care and psychological distress.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The present study points to the potential of self-care and mindfulness to decrease medical student distress and enhance well-being.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Education, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia.|School of Health Sciences, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia; jrslo1@student.monash.edu.
authors.forename: Jessica
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Slonim
authors.affiliation: School of Health Sciences, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia.
authors.forename: Mandy
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kienhuis
authors.affiliation: School of Health Sciences, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia.
authors.forename: Mirella
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Di Benedetto
authors.affiliation: School of Health Sciences, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia.|School of Psychological Science, Australian College of Applied Psychology, Melbourne, Australia.
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Reece
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001007:Anxiety / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D001315:Australia; D003863:Depression / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D004032:Diet; D015444:Exercise; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D006801:Humans; D008019:Life Style; D008297:Male; D064866:Mindfulness; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy; D013337:Students, Medical / Q000523:psychology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: dispositional mindfulness; intervention; medical students; psychological distress; self-care