Work

Effect of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction on Pain Severity and Mindful Awareness in Patients With Tension Headache: A Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial

Year: 2014

Type: article

Study designs: Randomized Controlled Trial, Clinical Trial

Abstract: BACKGROUND: Programs to improve the pain and health status in illnesses with pain such as headache are still in their infancy. Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) is a new psychotherapy that appears to be effective in treating chronic pain. OBJECTIVES: This study evaluated efficacy of MBSR in improving pain severity and mindful awareness in patients with tension headache. PATIENTS AND METHODS: This study was a randomized controlled clinical trial that was conducted in 2012 in Shahid Beheshti Hospital of Kashan City. Sixty patients who were diagnosed with tension-type headache according to the International Headache Classification Subcommittee were randomly assigned to treatment as usual (TAU) or MBSR groups. The MBSR group received eight weekly treatments. Any session lasted 120 minutes. The sessions were based on MBSR protocol. Diary scale for measuring headache and Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS) were administered at pretreatment, and posttreatment, and three-month follow-up in both groups. The data was analyzed using repeated measures analysis of variance. RESULTS: The mean of pain severity was 7.36 ± 1.25 before intervention that was significantly reduced to 5.62 ± 1.74 and 6.07 ± 1.08 after the intervention and follow-up (P < 0.001). In addition, the MBSR group showed higher scores in mindful awareness in comparison with the control group at posttest session. The mean of mindful awareness before intervention was 34.9 ± 10.5 and changed to 53.8 ± 15.5 and 40.7 ± 10.9 after the intervention and follow-up sessions (P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: MBSR could reduce pain and improve mindfulness skills in patients with tension headache. It appears that MBSR is an effective psychotherapy for treatment of patients with tension headache.

Source: Nursing and Midwifery Studies

DOI: 10.17795/nmsjournal21136

Authors: Abdollah Omidi, Fatemeh Zargar

Institution: Kashan University of Medical Sciences

Language: English

Topic: Mindfulness and Compassion Interventions

Subfield: Clinical Psychology

Field: Psychology

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Good health and well-being

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $150