Abstract
INTRODUCTION: Nursing students, as a vital reserve force for the nursing team, often encounter patient pain in clinical practice, and their empathy for this pain holds significant importance for fostering prosocial behavior and delivering high-quality care; however, the quantitative relationships among empathy for pain, meaning in life, and prosocial behavior remain unclear. OBJECTIVES: To explore the mediating effect of meaning in life between empathy for pain and prosocial behavior among nursing students. METHODS: A multi-center cross-sectional study was conducted from September to October 2024, employing a convenience sampling method. The Empathy for Pain Scale, Meaning in Life Questionnaire and Prosocial Tendencies Measure were used to investigate 432 nursing students in 4 hospitals. Pearson correlation was used to analyze the relationship between variables. Structural equation model was used to construct and evaluate the mediation model. Data analysis was performed using SPSS 26.0 and Amos 24.0. RESULTS: The empathy for pain score was (3.02 ± 0.68), indicating a high level. The meaning in life score was (43.55 ± 9.42), reflecting a moderately high level. The prosocial behavior score was (93.09 ± 16.41), indicating a moderate level. Empathy for pain, sense of life meaning and prosocial behavior were positively correlated (all p < 0.01). The meaning in life plays a partial mediating effect between empathy for pain and prosocial behavior. The indirect effect value was 0.073 (95%CI, 0.015∼0.136), accounting for 15.90% of the total effect. CONCLUSION: The meaning in life plays a partial mediating role between empathy for pain and prosocial behavior of nursing students. Cultivating nursing students' sense of meaning in life can effectively translate their empathy for patient suffering into tangible prosocial actions, thereby enhancing their clinical practice quality and patient care outcomes. This insight is particularly valuable for understanding how to support the professional development and psychological well-being of nursing interns during their critical transition from education to practice.