Mindfulness reduction of emotional distress in oncology patients. Comparative study with a psycho-educational intervention standard

Purpose: To compare the effectiveness of a Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) intervention versus a psychoeducational standard intervention in oncological patients. Method: MBSR intervention was applied following a 2'5 h-session schedule, across 10 weekly sessions. Patients (n= 20) had to practice mindfulness daily at home during 45 minutes. In the psychoeducational group (n=17) a schedule of 8 weeekly sessions of 2'5 h each was applied. Following a pre-post design, the following questionnaires were applied to both groups of patients: STAI (to assess both state and trait anxiety), BDI (Depression) and EORTC-QLQ-C-30 (quality of life). Results: In the MBSR group, scores in anxiety and depression decreased at post-treatment assessment whereas quality of life scores increased. These differences reached statistical significance. In the psychoeducational group only state anxiety scores decreased at post-treatment, with the difference reaching statistical significance. Conclusions: MBSR produces higher improvements in emotional states and quality of life than those obtained following a psycho educational standard procedure. However, it cannot be stated that MBSR must be always the intervention to be applied in all cases, since it is not clear that all patients could follow the guidelines, tasks and exercices required by this technique.