Background

Self-care is part of a physician’s professionalism. Mindfulness is effective for medical students’ self-care. However, it is challenging to implement the current eight-week program when we consider the medical students’ curriculums.

Aims

We administered the original mindfulness program to first-year medical students and examined its effects.

Method

Participants were first-year medical students (N=133). They took 12 units of 70-minute mindfulness classes for four months. The classes consisted of an Introduction, Mindfulness and medical care, Mindfulness and the body, Compassion, and a Summary, which combined lecture and exercise in each class.

Assessment methods: We used the Japanese version of the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ-J) and Positive Mood Scale (PMS).

Results

All the PMS subscales, Relax, Comfort, Affection, and Concentration, indicated significant changes in positive emotions. Moreover, the results of the MMFQ-J showed a significant pre-and post-program change in the descriptions of verbalizing experiences, a subscale of MMFQ-J.

Conclusion

The results of the original mindfulness program for medical students indicated positive changes in positive emotions and descriptions. We hope to repeatedly improve the program and examine its effect's sustainability.