An investigation of self-care related constructs in undergraduate psychology students: Self-compassion, mindfulness, self-awareness, and integrated self-knowledge

Self-care is associated with psychology practitioners’ psychological wellbeing and fewer risks connected with professional impairment and client harm. Despite this, the concept of self-care is under-deployed early in psychology training and under-researched. This study of 130 undergraduate psychology students investigated levels and relationships among self-care related constructs: self-compassion, mindfulness, self-reflection, and integrated self-knowledge. Participant self-reported levels of mindfulness, self-reflection, and self-compassion were low whereas integrated self-knowledge was high. As hypothesised, path analyses found integrated self-knowledge mediated the relationship between mindfulness and self-compassion, and between self-reflection and self-compassion. Mindfulness and self-reflection predicted integrated self-knowledge; but there was no relationship between mindfulness and self-awareness. Findings highlight the importance of teaching self-care related constructs during undergraduate psychology training.