The effect of group mindfulness - based stress reduction program and conscious yoga on the fatigue severity and global and specific life quality in women with breast cancer.

Background: Cancer is not merely an event with a certain end, but it is a permanent and vague situation that is determined by delayed effects due to the disease, its treatment and its related psychological issues. The aim of this study was to examine the effectiveness of the mindfulness-based stress reduction program and conscious yoga on the mental fatigue severity and life quality of women with breast cancer.

Methods: This was a quasi-experimental study with a pre-test, post-test and control group. In this study, 24 patients with the diagnosis of breast cancer were selected among the patients who referred to the Division of Oncology and Radiotherapy of Imam Hossein hospital in Tehran using available sampling method, and were randomly assigned into the experimental and control groups. All the participants completed the Fatigue Severity Scale, Global Life Quality of Cancer Patient and Specific Life Quality of Cancer Patient questionnaires. Data were analyzed by multivariate repeated measurement variance analysis model.

Results: Findings revealed that the mindfulness-based stress reduction treatment significantly improved the overall quality of life, role, cognitive, emotion, social functions and pain and fatigue symptoms in global life quality in the experimental group. It also significantly improved the body image, future functions and therapy side effects in specific life quality of the experimental group compared to the control group. In addition, fatigue severity caused by cancer was reduced significantly.

Conclusion: The results showed that the mindfulness - based stress reduction treatment can be effective in improving global and specific life quality and fatigue severity in women with breast cancer.