Anxiety, mindfulness and self-efficacy association among university healthcare specialties students in Al Qassim, Saudi Arabia: a cross-sectional study

Background Anxiety is a widely recognized topic in medical education. Previous studies have found that medical students experience higher levels of anxiety than other students. An increasing corpus of research indicates a major association between mindfulness and mental wellness. Results This study included 418 respondents, of whom 394 were included in the final sample. Most were female (55.3%), while male participants comprised 44.7%. The mean age of the population was 22.4 years. Our results showed only 7.2% of the participants in the sample were diagnosed with mental health disorders. Moreover, 26% of the study population had minimal anxiety, and the proportions of those with mild, moderate, and severe anxiety ranged from 20.3% for mild, to 22.7% for moderate, to 31.1% for severe. The most commonly observed severe symptoms were fear of the worst happening, nervousness, and inability to relax. The mean score on the General Self-Efficacy Scale (GSE) was 27.7 (SD: 5.1) on a scale of 10–40. According to the short-form Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ-15) evaluation of participants’ mindfulness, the average score was 41.6 (SD: 9.5) on a scale of 15–75. Gender, college attended, and presence of psychiatric diagnosis were the independent factors potentially influencing Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) scores. Conclusion Our findings revealed the prevalence of anxiety and mindfulness among healthcare students at Qassim University, Saudi Arabia. Weak correlations were found among the GSE, FFMQ-15, and BAI scores.