Knowing oneself is an essential feature of compassionate nursing care [65]. Accepting one’s limitations can be difficult for nurses; however, it can be argued that it is a necessary strategy for survival [66]. Within this review, it was highlighted that mindfulness-based interventions improved the holistic wellbeing of UG nursing students due to reductions in stress [25,27,29,31,32,34], anxiety [24,26,29,31,34] and depression [31]. Mindfulness was even shown to improve physiological health through a reduction in systolic blood pressure [26]. These results are consistent with other studies which show that mindfulness-based interventions can positively impact stress, anxiety and mindfulness in college [67], UG health and social care [12] and postgraduate nursing [9] students.

By using mindfulness-based skills, UG nursing students can develop a repository of positive coping mechanisms that will increase their capacity to navigate the more stressful aspects of academic and clinical practice. The reported benefits of applying mindfulness skills acquired during interventions included the ability to be more focused, patient and observing, and improved executive attention [25,33,36,38]. These results are consistent with other studies on the effects of mindfulness-based interventions on undergraduate students, which demonstrated increased self-efficacy and use of positive coping strategies [68,69,70,71], with one study reporting a sustained effect 6 years post-intervention [72]. Chen et al. [73] argued that higher levels of self-efficacy in nursing students is a significant predictor of academic achievement and is positively related to clinical competence and performance. Several studies have demonstrated the direct relationship between mindfulness and self-efficacy [74], and the reported link between high self-efficacy and lower stress levels [75].

Previous research has additionally explored the benefits of mindfulness-based interventions for nursing students’ clinical practice, reporting an increased awareness of the connection between mind and body, the importance of considering the patient’s holistic needs, and an ability to acknowledge and accept their own capabilities and limitations as a caregiver [30,33,35,36,37]. Mindfulness-based interventions can also result in increased empathy and communication skills, and greater ability to be present with patients [30,33,35,36,37], enhancing the development of nursing students’ self-awareness. Sanko et al. reported that nursing students not only demonstrated increased mindfulness but also enhanced ethical decision-making when caring for patients [30]. Van Kuiken et al. highlighted that mindfulness interventions additionally helped nursing students in the classroom environment through enabling participants to feel relaxed, calm and more focused when learning in the university setting [33]. Through enhancing internal coping mechanisms [35] and positively impacting sleep, concentration and clarity [36], mindfulness interventions demonstrated a positive impact on how nursing students managed stress. Van der Riet et al.’s findings additionally displayed a reduction in negative cognitions amongst participants [36]. Mindfulness interventions can also improve nursing students’ communication with their patients through enhancement of their ability to be more present and to develop deeper connections with the people in their care [37].

However, there is debate within the literature regarding the delivery method of mindfulness-based interventions. The traditional MBSR programme developed by Kabat-Zinn et al. [13] is typically administered as 2.5 h-long group sessions over 8 weeks, with one 6-h retreat and daily home practice. Whilst there is good evidence to support the effectiveness of the traditional programme in both clinical and non-clinical populations [13], one of the major barriers to mindfulness practice is the time commitment required from participants, resulting in attrition [76]. Despite variations in the duration and type of mindfulness programme utilised in the studies included in the present review, all studies reported a perceived positive impact following the intervention.