Effectiveness of Mindfulness-Based Interventions for Reducing Anxiety Among Women With Breast Cancer.

Abstract

After receiving a diagnosis of breast cancer, patients may experience negative physical, mental, and psychological symptoms. When excessive and uncontrollable, anxiety can become a pathological disorder. Mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) are psychological approaches that incorporate practices individuals can use to promote awareness, nonjudgmental acceptance, and present-moment focus. We conducted this study to evaluate the effect of MBIs for reducing anxiety among women who had undergone surgical interventions for removal of breast cancer. We used a quasi-experimental design and a convenience sample of 30 women. We used three tools for data collection: a structured questionnaire that collected sociodemographic data and assessed the participants' knowledge about breast cancer, the Freiburg Mindfulness Inventory, which is a self-reported Likert scale designed to assess core characteristics of mindfulness, and the Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale that measures the severity of an individual's anxiety. The results of our study showed that the majority (n = 24; 79.6%) of women who participated in our training program developed high levels of awareness about mindfulness. We found a highly statistically significant difference in the participants' levels of awareness of mindfulness between the pre- and postprogram evaluations (χ²[29, 30] = 56.143, p < .001), and a highly statistically significant difference in the participants' anxiety levels between the pre- and postprogram evaluations (χ²[29, 30] = 24.178, p < .001). We concluded that implementing a mindfulness training program significantly reduced the participants' level of anxiety. We recommend including MBIs in the treatment protocol for women with breast cancer as a method for reducing anxiety.