Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2025 May 20;24(1):569.
doi: 10.1186/s12912-025-03008-w.

Exploring how mindfulness enhances attentiveness: a qualitative study with South African mental health nurses

Rudo Ramalisa-Buḓeli  1 , Emmerentia du Plessis  2 , Suegnét Scholtz  3
Affiliations

Exploring how mindfulness enhances attentiveness: a qualitative study with South African mental health nurses

Rudo Ramalisa-Buḓeli et al. BMC Nurs. .

Abstract

Background: This qualitative, constructivist grounded theory addressed the gap in understanding how mental health nurses cultivate attentiveness through mindfulness practices. This was done by examining attentiveness as both an expression of care and a facilitator of human connectedness.

Design: Constructivist grounded theory.

Methods: The study population consisted of nurses working in South African psychotherapy wards, where mindfulness was integrated into daily care practices. Three psychiatric hospitals in South Africa were selected, and 11 participants were recruited via nonprobability snowball sampling method. The data were collected between June and November 2021 via virtual and face-to-face individual interviews supplemented with field notes.

Findings: Three categories of cultivating attentiveness through mindfulness practices were identified: foundations for fostering attentiveness through mindfulness; mindfulness practices; and the outcomes derived from such practices. These categories exhibited interconnectedness by featuring shared ideas and overlapping themes and subthemes.

Conclusions: When mental health nurses in this study practice mindfulness, they are attentive and develop a deeper understanding of themselves which conveys to patients.

Keywords: Attentiveness; Mental health nurse; Mindfulness; Nurse–patient relationship.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Ethics approval and consent to participate: The research was conducted according to the Declaration of Helsinki. Ethical approval was received from the Health Research Ethics Committee at the North-West University; ethics number NWU-00494-20-A1. Additionally, permission to conduct the study in participating hospitals was submitted and granted by the hospitals management and facilitated by the Gauteng Provincial Department of Health, numbered GP_202102_064, and the Western Cape Provincial Department of Health numbered WC_202102_027. All participants who took part in this research received information before providing a signed informed consent form and taking part in the interviews. Consent for publication: Not applicable. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Diagrammatic representation of data collection and analysis
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

References

    1. Klaver K Dynamics of attentiveness [Internet]. [Tilburg]: Tilburg University; 2016 [2024 Jun 19]. https://pure.uvt.nl/ws/portalfiles/portal/10987382/Klaver_Dynamics_01_04...
    1. Drahošová L, Jarošová D. Concept caring in nursing [Internet]. Cent Eur J Nurs Midwifery. 2016;7:453–60. 2024 Jun 19. https://cejnm.osu.cz/pdfs/cjn/2016/02/07.pdf
    1. Engster D. Rethinking care theory: the practice of caring and the obligation to care. Hypatia [Internet]. 2005 [2024 Jun 19];20(3):50–74. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Daniel-Engster/publication/23675838...
    1. Lindh IB, Severinsson E, Berg A. Nurses’ moral strength: a hermeneutic inquiry in nursing practice. J Adv Nurs. 2009 Sep;65(9):1882–90. - PubMed
    1. Parse RR. Human becoming: parse’s theory of nursing. Nurs Sci Q. 1992 Jan 19;5(1):35–42. - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources