The mediating effect of psychological flexibility between perceived stress and depression among Chinese nurses: A cross-sectional study

Using convenience sampling, we recruited a total of 3,920 nurses from three public tertiary - A hospitals in mainland China and form this dataset.We aimed to explore whether psychological flexibility acts as a partial mediator in the relationship between perceived stress and depression. And our numerical results indicate that psychological flexibility and its components—acceptance, cognitive defusion, values, and committed action—partially mediated the relationship between perceived stress and depression. These findings provide novel psychological and cognitive perspectives for alleviating depression symptoms and offer hospital administrators valuable guidance on enhancing nurses' psychological flexibility.