Mindful self-care and mental well-being of university health educators and professionals in Hail Region, Saudi Arabia

BACKGROUND: Psychological stress is a familiar occurrence as it is linked with a sense of lack of control when up fronted with uncertainty. The study examines the mindful self-care practices of health educators and professionals in various domains and determines their relationship to the self-perceived level of mental well-being.MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study employs the quantitative descriptive approach. It was conducted in the Hail region in the academic year 2020-2021 and was participated by 91 respondents from various colleges. Self-care practices and mental well-being of health educators and professionals were determined using the Mindful Self-Care Scale and the Warwick Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale. Pearson correlation (2-tailed) was performed to assess the significant relationship between self-care behavior and mental well-being. Post-hoc test for correlation was conducted between the mean rating for each variable for self-care behavior and the mean rating for mental well-being. This was tested at an appropriate probability value of 0.01 and 0.05.RESULTS: The overall mean for self-care behaviors of the respondents was 3.96 (SD 0.81) while the overall mental well-being score was 51.90 (SD 8.0). This was considered as average mental well-being, not indicative of possible/clinical depression. A significant relationship exists between the overall rating for self-care behavior and the overall rating for mental well-being (r = 0.661, P value < 0.001). Furthermore, with a correlation score of 0.661, the two variables have a moderately strong and significant positive relationship.CONCLUSIONS: The study affirmed the relationship between mindful self-care behaviors and mental well-being. Engaging in self-care practices regularly and frequently can develop one's well-being.