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

Abstract

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.