The effectiveness of mindfulness-based stress reduction intervention on alleviating anxiety and depression in postoperative patients with cervical cancer: A protocol for systematic review and meta-analysis

Online mindfulness-based stress reduction improves anxiety and depression status and quality of life in caregivers of patients with severe mental disorders

OBJECTIVES

To explore the effects of online mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) on the anxiety and depression status, and quality of life in the caregivers of patients with severe mental disorders.

METHODS

Ninety-three caregivers for patients with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, who were hospitalized in Yunnan Provincial Mental Hospital in March 2021, were enrolled and randomly divided into control group (n=47) and MBSR intervention group (n=46). Both groups received basic health education and rehabilitation skill training, while the intervention group received additional online MBSR for 8 weeks. The anxiety and depression status, and the quality of life of the caregivers were evaluated by Self-rating Anxiety Scale (SAS), Self-rating Depression Scale (SDS) and the 36-item Short Form Health Survey (SF-36) before and 8 weeks after intervention, respectively.

RESULTS

Thirteen caregivers dropped out of the study, and 80 subjects (40 in each group) were included in the final analysis. At the baseline, there were no significant differences in SAS, SDS and SF-36 scores between two groups (all P>0.05). Compared with the baseline, SAS and SDS scores in the intervention group significantly decreased after 8 weeks of intervention (both P<0.01) and were significantly lower than those in the control group (both P<0.01). There were no significant changes in the control group (all P>0.05). Except the physiological function dimension, the total score and the scores of each dimension of SF-36 in the intervention group were significantly increased after 8-week intervention (all P<0.05), and were significantly higher than those in the control group (all P<0.01). There were no significant changes in the control group before and after intervention (all P>0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

Online MBSR can reduce the anxiety and depression levels, improve the quality of life in the caregivers of patients with severe mental disorders.

Effects of Mindfulness-Based Interventions on Depression in Patients With Breast Cancer: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

OBJECTIVE

We examined the effects of Mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) on depressive symptoms in women with breast cancer and examined the moderating effects of participant characteristics, research methodologies, and features of interventions.

METHODS

We systematically searched 12 databases through November 2022 without date restrictions using the following search terms: (mindful* or meditation) AND (cancer OR neoplasm) AND (depress*). Studies included were primary studies evaluating MBIs in women with breast cancer who also had depression. Studies were included if they used a control group and were written in English. We used a random-effects model to compute effect sizes (ESs) using Hedges' g, forest plot, and Q and I2 statistics as measure of heterogeneity. We also requested moderator analyses.

RESULTS

We found 19 studies with 2139 participants (49.4 ± 8.3 years old) that met inclusion criteria for this meta-analysis and systematic review. Overall, women in MBI groups demonstrated significantly lower levels of depression (g = 0.48, 95% CI:0.159, 0.792, P < .001) compared to women in control groups. Regarding moderators, providing MBIs with a home assignment component showed a significantly greater effect on decreasing depressive symptoms (g = 1.75) compared to MBIs without a home assignment component (g = 0.20). When researchers used concealed allocation technique, the interventions demonstrated lower effects on depression than when concealed allocation (g = 0.11vs g = 1.33, P ≤ .001) was not reported. Additionally, when researchers reported high rates of sample attrition, they found a lower effect size on depression (β = -.019, Q = 3.97, P = .046) indicating that attrition moderates the effect.

CONCLUSION

MBIs are moderately effective interventions to reduce depressive symptoms among women with breast cancer. Clinicians might consider encouraging MBIs as adjunct/alternative treatments for women with breast cancer to manage symptoms of depression. Interventions that incorporat home assignments for practicing mindfulness are likely to have a greater effect on reducing depressive symptoms. Additionally, methods including concealed allocation and attrition rate were moderators of the effects of MBIs on depression in women with breast cancer.