Abstract: Objective: To investigate the status of mindfulness and mental health of front-line nurses during public health emergencies, and to explore the mediating effect of emotional intelligence between mindfulness and mental health of front-line nurses. Methods: Convenience sampling was used to recruit 215 front-line nurses from a tertiary grade A hospital in Hohhot in January 2023. Participants were investigated by the self-designed general data questionnaire, 21-Item Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS-21), Mindfulness Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS) and Wong and Law's Emotional Intelligence Scale (WLEIS). Results: Depression-anxiety-stress score was negatively correlated with mindfulness and emotional intelligence score (P<0.01). The results of Bootstrap test showed that the mediating effect of emotional intelligence score between mindfulness score and depression-anxiety-stress score in front-line nurses was -0.146 (95%CI: from -0.219 to -0.083), accounting for 44.0% of the total effects. Conclusion: Emotional intelligence has a partial mediating effect between mindfulness and mental health of front-line nurses. Hospital managers should pay attention to improving nurses' mental health and strengthening their ability to cope with public health emergencies.

Key words: front-line nurse; mental health; mindfulness; emotional intelligence; public health emergency