Abstract: Objective To explore the mediating effect of clinical nurses' meaning in life between gratitude and emotional response,and to provide theoretical reference for reducing negative emotional reactions of clinical nurses. Methods Using convenience sampling method,1 434 clinical nurses from 5 grade-A tertiary general hospitals in Anhui Province were selected as the research subjects from May to September 2022,and the general information questionnaire,the Chinese version of meaning in life questionnaire,the Chinese version of gratitude questionnaire-6,and the psychological questionnaires for emergent events of public health were used for a questionnaire survey,and the data were analyzed. Results The scores of the meaning of life,gratitude level and emotional response of 1 434 clinical nurses were （50.81±9.10）,（31.15±3.53） and 13.00（6.00,21.00）points,respectively. The emotional response of clinical nurse was negatively correlated with the meaning in life and gratitude（r=-0.354,-0.246,both P<0.01）,while gratitude was positively correlated with meaning in life（r=0.362,P<0.01）. The meaning in life played a partial mediating role between gratitude and clinical nurses' emotional response,and the mediating effect accounted for 38.53% of the total effect. Conclusion The meaning in life partially mediates the relationship between gratitude and nurses' emotional response. It is suggested that hospital and nursing managers can reduce the level of negative emotional reactions of clinical nurses by improving their meaning in life and increasing their level of gratitude.

Key words: Clinical nurse, Meaning in life, Gratitude, Emotional response, Mediating effect