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Benzo RP, Kirsch JL, Nelson C. EXPLORE (NY) 2017; 13: 201–206

Understanding and increasing happiness in healthcare professionals continues to be an important, yet underrepresented area of research. Self-compassion has gained recent attention due to its positive association with well-being and happiness. Four hundred healthcare workers at a teaching hospital were randomly asked to complete questionnaires, which included the Happiness Scale and Self-Compassion Scale, the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire as well as variables associated with well-being. Self-compassion was significantly and independently associated with perceived happiness, indeed it explained 30% of the variance after adjusting for age, marital status, gender and exercise. Two specific subdomains of self-compassion, coping with isolation and mindfulness, accounted for 95% of the self-compassion effect on happiness. It was concluded that the results might have practical implications by providing specific self-compassion components to be targeted in future programmes aimed at enhancing well-being in healthcare professionals.