Abstract

The development in cancer diagnosis and treatment has remarkably increased the survival rate of cancer patients. However, the quality of life of cancer patients has not been considered. In this aspect, Many medical practioners have used mindfulness based stress reduction (MBSR) to care cancer patients in Western countries. There is no study about the effects of MBSR on cancer patients in Korea. Therefore, we analyzed the effects of MBSR on blood pressure, psychological symptom and the quality of life of various cancer patients. We studied 13 subjects with Korean mindfulness based stress reduction (K-MBSR) as a modified MBSR. Blood pressure was measured and SCL-90-R and BDI for psychological symptom and EORTC QLQ C-30 for quality of life were checked by subjects before and after 6 week K-MBSR program, respectively. After the program, systolic, diastolic blood pressure and mean arterial pressures were reduced by 12.7 (p=0.002), 12.0 (p=0.002), and 11.1 mmHg (p=0.001), respectively. In SCL-90-R, obsessive-compulsiveness decreased from 52 to 47 (p=0.02), and anxiety decreased from 49 to 44 (p=0.04). In BDI, no significant changes were showed. K-MBSR significantly improved EORTC QLQ C-30 score of function (increased by 4.4, p=0.01) and quality of life (increased by 25, p=0.02). Our results show that K-MBSR significantly reduces blood pressure, obsessive-compulsiveness and anxiety and improves the quality of life of cancer patients in Korea. (Korean J Str Res 2012;20:1∼9)

• Keywords: Cancer patients, Mindfulness based intervention, Blood pressure, Psyschological symptoms, Quality of life;